


Running up the Hill

by Fibi94



Series: Universe Echo [9]
Category: Designated Survivor (TV)
Genre: Multi, Past Hannah/Damian mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-29
Packaged: 2019-06-30 08:51:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 30,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15748380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fibi94/pseuds/Fibi94





	1. Target

“Kendra.” She hears her name being called, her head is spinning and she feels like vomiting, the voice calling her name is familiar thought and she turns around coming face to face with Trey Kirkman standing there,

“Good morning. I didn't want to wake ya, but, um, you know where the other one of these is?” he asks her waving a shoe in the air, she sits up, feeling pain in parts she had forgotten even existed

“Kitchen.” She says trying to hide the winch.

“Yes. Okay.” She can’t help but think he looked incredibly cute, she tries to get up, “I'll help you find it.” She says.

“No, I-I got it.”

“Okay.” She says, “I'm gonna show myself out.” she smiles and nods,  “Sounds good.”

“Morning.”

“Morning.”

Kendra falls back on the bed, this did not go how she thought it would, she knows herself too well, this isn’t going to end well, she’s either going to destroy Trey’s relationship with his brother or she’ll have to resign and go into hiding living like a hermit for the rest of her life.

* * *

 

“Trey didn’t came home last night.” Alex nearly chokes with the juice she was drinking; the smell of coffee makes her stomach turn in the last few days.  “I know” she says not looking up from the pancakes in front of her, “Was he still at the Kennedy Center when you left?” Tom asks, Alex hates where this is going, she can’t keep a straight face, or lie apparently so she just tries to keep her answers as short as possible, “Yup”

Alex’s behavior makes Tom really suspicious, this was really weird, she didn’t look up from the pancakes she wasn’t eating once, this wasn’t something she usually does, “Alex what’s going on?” he asks, his mind went over a couple possibilities and none was something he wanted to actually consider.  “Nothing.” She says quickly, Alex winches, this didn’t feel right, she had promised not to lie and that was a blatant lie, she can almost see her therapist’s disappointed face, “There might be something I think your brother is flirting with your lawyer.” She says letting the fork down, Tom groans, this was really the last thing he needed, “Great.” He lets the newspaper down and grabs his briefcase, “I’ll deal with it.” He says, Tom walks to the exit when he hears Alex calling him “Tom be careful” she warns him, for a moment he forgot the progress he had made in his relationship with Trey, her tone was warning, this wasn’t something that will be easy to fix if he destroys it, Tom signs “I’ll just have a talk with him.”

* * *

Kendra looks around her living room, the whole place is a mess, there are a couple pizza boxes on the coffee table and she can count at least three empty bottles of tequila on the floor. She shakes her head, these are all signs of a night that must never be repeated if she wants to keep her job, getting close to Trey Kirkman was like getting too close to the sun, she was going to get burned and this wasn’t something she wanted to happen any time soon. She walks to the fridge, remembering Hannah telling her that orange juice helps with the nausea that she might be feeling after tequila. Well now is a good time as any to test said theory, she gets a tall glass from the cupboard and purrs whatever is left from the bottle in the glass, she makes a note that she needs to go grocery shopping, first chance she gets, walking back to the island she sits down on one of the stalls, something catches her eye, letting the glass down, she reaches for it, after a couple of good looks she realizes what she’s holding and chuckles, of course this would happen to her, reaching for her phone his number is the first she sees, “Hi, Trey? It's Kendra.”

“Oh hey” he says, his voice betrays his surprise that she calls, she smiles even if her brain with all its logic tells her to stay away she fears it might be too late for that.

“Y... You left your wallet here.” She tells him, he doesn’t respond for a moment, “Oh” he says after a while, “Can you wait? I’ll be back in about 5 I’m not that far away.”

“Sure, sure. I can wait. Okay.” She says hanging up, she realizes to her terror that she is already too deep. She shakes her head and walks to the bedroom, she is almost ready for work but she decides to change her shoes, her feet won’t take a day walking around in those heels no matter how much she might like them.

She was standing in front of her shoe cabinet, debating between her black flats and her black pumps with the lower heel when she hears glass breaking from the floor below. She waits for Trey’s voice apologizing for knocking over whatever it was but it didn’t came, instead more glass was shattered, she can feel the panic raising as the noise doesn’t stop, she grabs the baseball bat she has in her closet and runs to the bathroom.

* * *

 

Trey parks his car outside of Kendra’s house, he smiles when he sees her Mercedes still parked outside, he doesn’t know why but he was sure that she wouldn’t have waited for him, even thought she told him she would.

Getting out of the car he finds himself almost running to the front door, he’s about to ring the bell when he realizes that the door is slightly open, it puzzles him, he doesn’t know Kendra that much but he does know that there’s no way in hell she would leave the front door open, or even unlocked. He gently pushes the door open, the living room seems to be just like it was when he left at first glance, he walks further inside, glass shatters under his shoes, looking around he can clearly see all the distraction that happened, “Kendra?” he calls her name, there’s no response, and he starts getting worried, he notices the broken glass door leading to the patio and he gets really worried, he walks cautiously to the staircase grabbing a candlestick, looking at the object he huffs, this really looked pathetic, but it was the closest thing he could find to potentially use as a weapon ‘Right before the blow your brains off’ a tiny voice in the back of his head tells him, he notices how the voice sounded extremely like his brother’s but he tries to ignore it, Tom is not what he should be remotely thinking right now. Not while Kendra was nowhere to be found.  “Kendra!”

She doesn’t respond again, his mind is running a thousand miles per hour, why the hell did he leave? He should have stayed back, was whoever broke her porch door waiting for him to leave? He shakes his head trying not to drag himself into this endless pit of self hate, a slightly open door catches his attention when he’s at the top of the stairs, he walks closer slowly trying to be as quiet as he can be, if this is Kendra he doesn’t want to scare her but if it’s not, he doesn’t want to alert whoever it might be that he’s coming.

Opening the door he’s nearly knocked down with a baseball bat, he raises his hands instinctively trying to protect his face, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey! It's me. You okay?” he asks, he can see Kendra slightly shaking, she’s clutching the bat tightly, not letting him takes it away from her.

“Yeah.” She says, her voice is slightly trembling, matching the shivers down her spine, she can see him trying to give her a reassuring smile but failing, “It's me.” He says again, this time slowly, like a whisper, he’s trying to reassure her, she doesn’t know if he does it on purpose but she imagines he does. “Okay.” She whispers again, she notices the worried look on his face, her hands are itching to drop the bat, but she knows she’s going to wrap her arms around his shoulders and probably never let him go after that, so her hands still clutch the bat tightly.

“You alright?” he asks, it sounds stupid, he knows she’s not alright, how could she be alright, her house got broken into while she was inside, she was hiding in a bathroom with a baseball bat waiting to smash whoever’s head walked in, this wasn’t alright, this was the farthest from it. She still nodes, “Yeah.” She says, Trey knows she’s lying but he doesn’t comment, “I'll just take this... okay.” He tells her as he slowly pulls the bat from her hands.

As soon as he throws the heavy wood on the floor Kendra wraps her arms around his shoulders, he still smells like yesterday’s tequila but she finds the scent underlining it very soothing.

* * *

 

“Hey Alex.” Trey’s voice raises alarms in Alex’s head the moment she picks up the phone “Trey? Are you alright?” she asks him, there’s a chuckle on the other end of the line, “Yeah, kinda.” Before Alex had time to ask him anything else Trey cuts her off “Listen Alex, Kendra’s apartment got broken into, Secret Service is bringing us back right now, could you let Tom know?” Alex feels her head spinning, this is all too much “Yeah, are you and Kendra alright?” she asks, “We’re fine, we’re alright.”

“Ok.” Trey hangs up without another word, Alex is puzzled for a moment, she knows she needs to go and inform Tom, if Mike hasn’t already but she feels her legs too heavy to move, it takes all her willpower to get herself off of the chair and walk to the west wing.

By the moment she gets to the oval office she sees Mike is already there “Mike told you?” she asks Tom, he nods and she notices Mike leaving the room discreetly, “Trey called you?” he asks, Alex nods “Wanted me to tell you first, I should have warned him that Mike is faster than me any day.”

Tom smiles, “Are they ok?” he asks, Alex walks closer to him leaning against the desk, he reaches for her hand immediately, “They are alright, I assume a little shaken but alright.” She tells him, Tom nods “Good, that’s good.”

“Want me to stay here?” she asks, Tom looks up his eyes seem a little lost, “I,” he pauses “I don’t know… it might make Kendra feel better.” Alex smiles and nods “I think it might”

They both sat there, not moving waiting for the secret service to bring Kendra and Trey to the oval, Alex jumped up as soon as the two of them walked in the room, she walked over to them wrapping first Trey in a hug “Are you alright?” she whispers in his ear, Trey nods “yeah” he mutters, Alex smiles and walks straight to Kendra, she was standing just a few steps away from Trey still holding on to two of his fingers, Alex wraps her arm around her shoulder and gently starts leading her to the couch, she notices that Kendra left Trey’s hand as she follows her to the couch. Not long after Emily walks in the room, she sits down next to Kendra on the other side, placing another hand supporting Kendra on her back, Alex notices how Kendra reaches for her hand and clutches it tightly.

“What matters is that you're both all right.” Tom mutters, Alex notices the looks he throws to Trey, she knows where this is going and she doesn’t like it, “Do you need anything?” she asks Kendra, “Some water” Alex doesn’t even manage to get up, Trey is already pouring her a glass, she smiles noticing Kendra’s genuine smile when she takes the glass.

“Kendra, do you need anything else?” Tom asks Kendra leaves the glass on the coffee table in front of her, “I'm fine. Thank you, sir.” She says smiling, Mike walks in the room soon after a woman follows closely behind, her tight curls held back in a messy ponytail.

“Mr. President, this is Detective Pineda.”

“Detective, what do you know?” Tom asks, he doesn’t have much time to spare, this attack no matter what he let show to Alex, Kendra and Trey had unnerved him a lot, who would be looking to harm Kendra?

“Not much, sir. We're still canvassing the scene.” She turns her attention to Kendra who seems to be a little better than when she arrived, “Ms. Daynes, if you could take us through it.”

“I was getting ready for work. Um, I heard a sound. I was expecting Trey” she stops herself, this wasn’t a part of her life she wanted the world to know, “Mr. Kirkman... And, um, then I heard glass shattering.” She pauses for a moment, her eyes fall on Trey who was standing there, stiff, hands in his pockets. She imagines this wasn’t what he expected when he went home with her either, maybe she should have warned him of her bad luck. “I must've got there a few minutes after whoever did this left.” He says, the detective nods and takes a couple notes in her notepad.

“So you had just arrived?” she asks, Alex bites her lip, this must be very uncomfortable for Trey and Kendra, even more than it is for her and Tom.

“No, I was... there, but then I left. I came back for my wallet.” Trey says, “Do you think that this was a burglary?” Tom asks trying to change the subject, this was getting a little too uncomfortable, he didn’t need to know about his brother’s sex life at all.

“No, sir. Nothing was taken.” Mike assures him, Tom nods, he hoped this would be a burglary, maybe then this could be just an one off rather than someone actively targeting Kendra, “I'm considering this an attack on the White House. Detective, I want you to run everything through Mike.” He tells the detective, she throws a look at Mike and nods, she probably wasn’t happy to have secret service in her turf but that’s what happens when the president’s lawyer is attacked, “Yes, sir.”

“We'll keep the circle on this as tight as possible.” Mike says, he doesn’t know who he tries to reassure, maybe just himself, or everyone in this room, “Ms. Daynes, we'll need to get a full statement.”Kendra nods, Alex can see Tom getting restless, “Thank you. Excuse me for one moment.” He says walking to the private study next door, he turns and calls Trey to follow him, “Sorry” he says following Tom, his head hanging low, his hands still in his pockets.

“Trey.” Tom starts as soon as the door is closed behind them, “I-I know what you're gonna say.” He says cutting him off, because he knew, truly he did, he was going to get an earful, telling him how could he be so reckless, getting involved with Kendra, how inappropriate this is,  “Firstly, thank God you weren't hurt.” Tom says, it takes Trey by surprise, he was sure this wasn’t going to be the first thing his brother would say, “Is that it?” he asks praying in ever god there is to be just it, he knows it won’t be, he knows what his brother will want in the end, the problem is he doesn’t know if he can do it, “What were you doing there?”

“Look, Kendra and I were at that Kennedy Center thing with Alex, we got to talking, got some sangria at that tapas joint, and...”

“Trey, Kendra is part of my staff.” Tom tells him cutting off his brother’s rumbling, “I cannot allow that to be compromised. I hope you understand.” He tells him, Trey isn’t surprised, to be honest this is exactly what he thought would happen, maybe with a little more screaming but in essence the same thing, “I get it.” Trey says putting a strong face on, inside it breaks him but he’s not going to show it right now, “Okay, thanks. Sit tight, Mike's gonna want to talk to you.” He says leaving the room.

Back in the oval Alex was alone, “Where’s Kendra?” he asks looking around. “Went to talk to Mike and the detective.” She stands up from the couch and walks to Tom wrapping her arms around his waist, “How it went with Trey?” she asks, “Good, he told me he gets it when I told him I can’t have him playing around with members of my staff.”

The smile on her face is forced but Tom doesn’t seem to notice, “Good, I’m gonna go see if he’s alright.” She tells him, he leans forward kissing her cheek before she leaves, Alex smiles and gives his hand one last squeeze before leaving the room.

Trey was sitting on a couch, his hands gripping each other so tightly his knuckles turn white, “Trey?” Alex asks, it seems anchor him back to reality, he turns “I was expecting Mike, or Tom with another lecture.”

Alex smiles and sits next to him “Just me,” she reaches for one of his hands “How are you?” she asks, Trey looks at her, there’s something in his eyes, a sadness she doesn’t think she has seen before, not even when she visited him in the hospital or after his and Tom’s mother died.

“I’m,” he pauses, he knows he’s not fine, physically maybe but mentally he is not fine or alright, or even ok, “I don’t know.”

“Tom said you agreed to not see Kendra again.” This was getting a bit uncomfortable, she wasn’t used to talking about these things with Trey, it usually was just the kid or Tom, or how he was doing but with him it was always light, always fun, emotions were never an issue. “I did.” Alex was surprised how emotionless his voice sounder “Did you?” she asks him again, Trey looks up “I don’t think I can though, but I don’t want to lose Tom or you, or the kids from my life again, I don’t want to have to sneak in during graduations, or when Tom isn’t home or during school plays, I don’t want to have to see my brother through the TV.” Alex can see the tears filling Trey’s eyes up “But you can’t let Kendra go either right?” she asks him, Trey nods “Remember when you found me at that clinic, I asked you once how it felt, to be in love.” Alex remembers this encounter, it was the second time she had visited him, Trey asked her if she still loves Tom, she couldn’t outer the words, but she nodded, he then asked her how did she know, “I told you, I knew would see him sleeping next to me, I would trace his tattoos with my finger and see the goose bumps on his skin, and I would know.”

Trey nods, “I spend half an hour just staring at Kendra sleeping this morning, and I have never felt this,” he stops, a couple tears escaping his eyes “I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.”

Alex nods, this was much deeper than she and Tom had imagined, “When all this is over, you should talk to Tom, tell him what you told me,” Trey looks up he shakes his head “No, no, he wouldn’t understand.” Alex smiles and cups his face turning his eyes back to her “Of course he will Trey, he’s been there, remember?”

* * *

 

“Kendra, I'm so sorry.” Emily says, it makes Kendra wanna laugh but she stops herself, laughing at her boss’ face won’t help smooth out the strained relationship the two of them have, and apart from Alex she would enjoy having someone else in the White House, not necessarily to trust but to at least go out and have some drinks without twenty secret service agents trailing them. “You know where my mind keeps going?”

“Where?”

“Every hang-up I've had in the last six months, every time something got lost in the mail.” Kendra says, this was driving her crazy she was trying to think of all the things that could have arose suspicion but didn’t, things she brushed off as semantics, things that normally would worry her but this time didn’t.

“Yeah, well, my mind would be going there, too, but that doesn't mean that there's a connection.” Emily says, she knows what she’s trying to do, she’s trying in her own way to calm her down, make her relax, she can’t say that she doesn’t appreciate the try but the result it probably making her more paranoid than before.

“I know Ritter is chasing down every lead, but it's my home, you know? I mean, what if they'd found me?” she asks, she sees Emily lowering her head, “Okay, let's talk about something else, something that is none of my business.”  She says, Kendra rolls her eyes and starts walking away, “Let's not.” She says behind her back, “What? It's Trey. It's a big deal.”

“It is a big deal. Three months since I've been with anyone, and I manage to hook up with Kirkman's brother right before someone nearly Patty Hearst'd my ass.” Kendra says, Emily winches, “Well, yeah, the timing's not great, but...”

“If I didn't have bad timing, I wouldn't have timing at all.” Kendra cuts her off, Emily smirks, she knows she’s not going to let it go, as tight as the chief of staff is about her own private life that much she likes to gossip about others’ “Think this will be a thing?” she asks her eating her muffin, “It was one night.” Kendra says, something in her own voice sounds fake and she hates it that she can’t fake not being interested in Trey at all.

“Well, there could be another one. I mean, he's smart and he's cute. And you know where to find each other.”

“Yeah. I'll be in the bathroom with a baseball bat, and he'll be trying to bash me with a candlestick. It's the beginning of every great love story.” The two of them share a few chuckles, it worked better than Emily’s last try to get her mind off of what happened, but the other woman’s face turns serious really fast, “Look, take the day if you need to. No one expects you to be here after what happened.” She tells her, “It's what I expect of myself. I'm an advocate, not a victim, and I'm not gonna let anything change that.”

“Okay.”

* * *

 

Alex walked in Kendra’s office, it was empty but she decided to stay and wait for her, not long after Kendra walks in, she nearly screams when she sees Alex sitting there “Shit you scared me.” Kendra says, “Sorry, I came but you weren’t here so I thought I should wait.” Kendra smirks “I’m fine, don’t worry.” She says mindlessly walking to her desk sitting down, “I think we both know you are not.” Alex says, it makes Kendra look up, Alex can see the façade slowly breaking right in front of her eyes, “I’m not.” She admits “How’s Trey?”

“He’s fine, he’s talking with Mike.” Kendra nods “Please tell him I’m sorry I almost bashed his head with a baseball bat.” Alex laughs, “Don’t worry, he didn’t mind.” She says, Kendra smiles, “Was the president mad?” she asks, Alex asks “No, Tom was just glad you guys were not hurt.” She is glad that she’s not lying, not entirely at least.

* * *

 

Alex walks in the private study, Tom is leaning back on his chair, his eyes closed, his feet up the desk, his glasses dangerously low on his nose, an open folder on his chest, she smiles and walks closer taking the folder from his hands and placing it on the desk, “Tom” she nudges him softly to wake him up, he opens his eyes, slightly disoriented for a moment, “Hey.” He says smiling, “You’ll never believe what happened to me today. I am stopping drinking water from around here by the way.” He says, rubbing his eyes, Alex smirks and sits on the desk, her feet dangling about an inch from the floor, “What happened?” she asks him, he sounds amused, “Both the democrats and the republicans turned to me to lead their party into the elections.” Tom looks at her waiting for her to find it as amusing as he did, “We’re a little over 10 months away from the elections.” She says, “That’s what I said! It’s too early.” Tom says.

“No Tom it’s too late. They should have had started their primaries six months ago.” She tells him, Tom’s smile falls, this wasn’t what he hoped for, he hoped that Alex would tell him not to worry, but he knew better, he knew better than that after all.

“Lyor said one party is circling a candidate they just would rather to back the incumbent.” Alex smiles and nods, “Lyor is right, the incumbent most of the times has better chances of winning and the GOP likes to win.” She can see all this is slightly overwhelming Tom, she reaches for his hand, she knows Tom will refuse it till he’s blue in the face but she knows him well enough to know that he likes to win as well, she can see why both parties would be interested in Tom running as their nominee, he agrees with the republicans in national defense and he is the president that led the country out of a terrible tragedy, last time this happened the democrats had the presidency and they couldn’t cash in to this, this time though if Tom decides to run as a republican in all books he’ll go as a republican president.  “You’d go down as a republican president.” She points out, Tom looks up and shakes his head, “I don’t want that.”

“Then the democrats.”

“I’m not sure about that either.”

* * *

 

“Okay, just for fun, I'm gonna give one last word to the youngest spelling bee champion in this nation's history. Ok, this is a tough one. Soubrette.” He says looking at his cards, he was almost certain the little girl could make it, this was the part of his job that he enjoys the most though sadly he doesn’t get to do it very often.

“Soubrette. S-O-U-B-R-E-T-T-E. Soubrette.” He smiles widely, “She's right again. That's amazing.” He congratulates the little girl and her teachers, he hears Seth calling the pool “Thank you, pool. Appreciate it.” As he turns and leaves the oval, the questions are screamed at him, “Mr. President, are you running?” someone asks, he turns around slightly and sees Samantha from the Washington Post standing there, “Only from you.” He jokes, people in the room laugh but before he could even move a leg the questions start again, “Uh, what about reports that you refused overtures to join the Republican and Democratic parties?” she asks, he remembers the conversation he had with Alex earlier, “I'm a registered independent. Nothing has changed.” He says, this was the only option he was comfortable with, he wasn’t a republican and he wasn’t a democrat either label would make him uncomfortable and if those two years was all the time he was meant to have in this office, the least he could do was go down with a label that he would be ok having.

“So you're not thinking of re-election?” another reported asks, this wasn’t what he wanted to talk to right now, “The only thing I'm thinking right now is about the DOD budget. That's languishing because Senators Crowell and Feller have decided to play politics. So I am inviting them and their respective parties to come back to work and do their jobs. Thank you, everybody. Thank you.” He says, turning around and walking in the office, he can hear journalists behind him screaming for another follow up or question “Mr. President, one follow up!” but he ignores them there wasn’t anything else he wanted to say after all, he had said everything he had.

Seth and Lyor were looking at the scene unfolding in front of them stunned, “Did the president just call out the Majority and the Minority Leader in front of the entire press pool?” Lyor asks, he’s stunned, this wasn’t good, his mind was going a thousand miles per hour trying to figure out how to get out of this mess, Seth had told him this was going to be just a simple fun meeting with the youngest spelling bee champion, a nice PR meeting with a cute little girl making the president more liked with especially mothers, showing his softer paternal side, “Yep.”

Seth is shocked as well, Lyor turns around and notices his stunned face, under other circumstances he might have taken some time to study his features, but right now he doesn’t have the luxury, “How do you spell catastrophe?”

* * *

 

“I saw you pissed off the zoo” Alex tells him, Tom groans and leans back against his chair, this day seemed not to be ending no matter how much he wanted it to, “Not you too.” He mutters under his breath, Alex walks close to his desk, this seems to become a habit for the two of them she thinks as she leans against the heavy wood. “Lyor?”

“Of course Lyor.” Tom heard Lyor’s delirium just after the pool left the oval and he was sure they weren’t going to hear it, he was going off for at least ten minutes on how this was a disaster and how he couldn’t just go off and call out the Senate leadership, this wasn’t the first time Lyor went off, lately it’s been somewhat of a normal occurrence, today though it was the first time that he had to yell at Lyor to stop him.

“He thinks you’re not gonna win reelection.” Alex points out, Tom chuckles it starts looking like Alex can read what Lyor has said without even being there, “He didn’t say it but.”

“He said it” she says, Tom laughs, it’s hollow, she can see how this is exhausting him daily.

“Yeah.” They sit in silence for a few minutes before Tom speaks again. “I hate this, I hate TV I hate politics and I hate both parties.”

* * *

 

“I appreciate you taking the time to see me, Tom. Meeting with an enemy is a civilized thing to do.” Tom clenches his jaw he didn’t really want to meet with Cornelius, but Alex thought it could be a good idea, talking with him, it might help solve this whole terror, he wasn’t really looking to solve it with a cooperation to be honest Cornelius was guilty in his eyes and that wouldn’t change. “You think I'm the enemy?” Tom says,

“Advocating for a special counsel doesn't make you a friend. I've done nothing wrong.” He says, all this makes Tom even more upset, he knows he’s lying, _done nothing wrong_ what a huge pile of bull.

“Well, if you've done nothing wrong, you've got nothing to fear. Cooperate with the investigation. Should be over in a moment.” He turns back to the papers in front of him, ignoring the man in front of him, he thought of him as a mentor, a friend someone that in the middle of this entire ordeal he could trust, but in the end he couldn’t trust him, it turned out that in the end even his _mentor_ would betray him.

“But it won't be. No, this is just the beginning. Special counsel is a Pandora's Box. You're a student of history. You should know that.” Tom knows where Cornelius is going with this, “I'm not gonna fire him, Cornelius.”

“He should never have been appointed!” his blow up doesn’t surprise Tom he even expected it “You and I both know the truth.”

“You're gonna be held accountable.” Tom states, it makes Cornelius mad, he can tell that, there’s a dark look in his eyes, a look that he hasn’t seen ever in his eyes.

“Yes.” He says, “Yes, I am going to be held accountable, Tom. And so are you. Because if I'm charged with anything, you know what my defense will be?” his voice sounds threatening, but Tom tries to keep his patience, “I've got a pretty good idea.”

“You will be my defense. "I was protecting the country from Tom Kirkman. His inexperience. His recklessness." Your name will be my refrain. My psalm. My salvation.” He doesn’t know what Cornelius is trying to do, he might be trying to scare him into submission but this isn’t working right now, if anything it makes him even more upset  “And you think that that's somehow supposed to scare me?”

“I think it's supposed to make you see reason. Two presidents going after each other. You think that's good for the republic?” Tom chuckles, he now brings up the republic, “Oh, so that's what you're doing here. You're going to save the republic now? How noble of you.”

“I've come here to talk common sense. But I see you're past that.”

“Cornelius, you and I have very different ideas about what's good for this country.”

“Yes, but going after both political parties? A former president? If you really think that's what's best for this country, you shouldn't be sitting in that chair.” It stings a lot, hearing it from his mouth, he hates to admit it but deep down Cornelius’ opinion still matters to him.

“But I am. Good luck, Cornelius.”

* * *

 

 _“In a stunning win for the White House... both majority and minority leadership of the Senate...”_ Tom is please watching the TV, Trey walks in the room, “Hey, come on in.”

 _“President Kirkman's sweeping defense bill. The unexpected...”_ Tom turns off the TV and turns to his brother, he seems worried, his hands in his pockets, this doesn’t seem like a good omen to him, “Congratulations.” Trey says, “Thank you very much.” His brother’s weird reaction is making him worried, “How are you doing?” he asks him, Trey smirks “Better now that this is all over.” He says it’s not really reassuring, “What is it?” he asks his brother, there was something in his face, something that was worrying him greatly.

“I just hope this thing with Kendra isn't over.” He says, Trey is worried, he is scared actually of what might follow, he knows that he will not be pleased he knows that Tom doesn’t trust him to be an upstanding  guy he knows all those, he truly does, but at the same time he found out that he can’t keep her out of his head, “Trey, I thought I made myself perfectly clear.”

Tom notices the look on Trey’s face, it makes him a bit skeptical, but a little voice tells him that he knows better than to trust Trey, and he hates it, he really does, he wishes he could ignore it but he can’t his brother has a habit of playing around and not thinking of the consequences.

“Tom, you think I'm gonna embarrass you? That I'm gonna hook up with a member of your senior staff and then just blow her off?”

“I think you have a history with that.” Trey knows that Tom doesn’t mean it in a mean way, he knows that, or at least he tells himself that, “Yeah, one I've spent a lot of time trying to live down. But I can't do that unless you let me up.”

“Trey, this isn't a joke. Optics are everything here.” He wishes he could let him, he wishes he could just allow him to let his reputation up but he can’t, not right now, not while he was in the White House.

“I like her, Tom. Not just as a notch on my belt. But as someone I want to get to know. You know, all those gatherings that I insisted I would accompany Alex when you couldn’t, was so I could see her, so I could have a reason to be around, maybe catch a glimpse of her.” Tom takes a good look at his brother, he looks at his face the look on his face was so surprising to him, he had seen it a couple times, he sees it on pictures Alex took of him over the years, he sees every morning waking up.

“Really?” he asks, “Yeah.”

“Then I think you should tell her that.”

* * *

 

“You did good today Mr. President.” He looks to his left, Alex came out of the bathroom, he smiles, “Thank you.” He bites his lips, “Trey’s in love with Kendra.” He says, Alex smiles, she doesn’t look surprised but she does look a bit puzzled, “Huh”

“Yeah Never thought I’d see the day but, he is.” He says, he never really thought about it, he always thought that Trey was against everything having to do with feelings and love, he remembers clearly telling them that he is not going to get married, ever.

“That’s good.” Alex says, Tom walks closer and wraps his arms around her waist, the skin under her silk shirt is warm, familiar, “Is it?” he asks, he looks at her a bit amused, he stopped being surprised by her much better knowledge of people, “I think Kendra is in love with him too.”

* * *

 

Trey takes a deep breath, as he was walking to Kendra’s office he could feel his hands start sweating more, his head spinning by each step, he knows what he wants to tell her, he knows what he needs to tell her, to let her know but he starts feeling his throat closing.  He stops at the door, her back is turned to him an open box of pizza on her desk, “I'm hearing they caught the guy. Hi.” He smiles widely watching her turn around, “Excuse me.” She grabs a paper towel wiping her mouth, “Yeah. He tried to shoot his way out, which didn't end well for him. But the guy who was at the root of it all, Gabe Herlihy, I'm having him brought in for questioning.”

Trey looks at her beaming; it makes his heart skip a couple beats, “No immunity?” he asks, Mike was kind enough to keep him updated about everything that happened in the case, “No. Herlihy killed Garren before he went into witness protection. Which means he lied. And lying voids his immunity deal.” He nods, he doesn’t really understand all that, it was never in his field of expertise but he smiles, he’s glad to hear that this ended “Good. Then you get to put an end to all this.”

Kendra looks down, she doesn’t know what else to say, she knows she has to say something, but she wants to try not to mess this up even though this is something she always manages to do.

“Listen, um, I wanted to talk to you about, uh, last night. I wanted to apologize. I'm not really big on follow-up. I'm sorry if you feel used.”

“Used?”

“Well, that's just my MO. I don't really date. When I meet someone I actually like, I, uh... I tend to screw it up.” She sees a hurt look on his face, it makes her realize that she doesn’t want to screw this up, whatever that might be. “Did I?” she asks

“Well, I'm wounded. Being taken advantage of for my body, it's just... It's getting so old.” Trey couldn’t stop the smirk raising, he sees Kendra smiling back, his breath is caught in his throat, he is surprised how strong reaction her smile brings to him, “How can I make it up to you?” she asks him.

“Dinner this weekend?”

“Only if we skip the tequila this time. And the home invasion.”

“Uh, it's a date.”

* * *

 

Tom came back in the office after spending an hour with Alex, Leo and Penny, it was refreshing, he felt like a brand new person, he knows this is not going to last long, but being able to say goodnight to his kids was something he really missed and tonight since he had some time free he decided he _had_ to do it. Seth barged in, he started rumbling, Tom only heard some words like ‘Moss’, ‘elections’ and ‘GOP’

“Seth, slow down. Start over.” He tells him, he’s worried as he sees the crazed eyes the younger man has.

“The mystery candidate. It's Cornelius Moss. I got it from a reliable source.” Tom is shocked, he feels like there’s no oxygen left in the room, “Let me call the rest.” He says, Lyor, Emily, Kendra and Aaron came in not long after, they all looked a little worn out although under different circumstances Kendra’s smile would have been the main thing he would have noticed, “What is going on sir?” Emily asks, Tom turns to Seth “Seth?”

“Cornelius Moss is the GOP’s mystery candidate.” They all look shocked, surprised and even scared, “Oh, wow. So he's gonna run for president again.” Aaron states, Tom notices how interested he is in all that, after all he still is a political animal deep down, “I knew he was trying to get back in the game.” Seth mentions, “When you snubbed both parties, his stock rose.” Seth says turning to Tom.

Tom shakes his head, this wasn’t how he wanted this day to end, Alex had joined that they better make it a habit, having him come home earlier just so she could see him come back home in a good mood, he told her it doesn’t happen _all_ the time, she laughed, told him _‘let’s see how you’ll come home tonight’_

“There are a million reasons you don't want Moss to run. He'd be a formidable adversary.” Lyor says Tom nods; he knows that, he also knows that Cornelius running is putting a cloud over his administration’s try to prosecute him over the leaks, “His candidacy puts a cloud over the special counsel's investigation.”

Wyatt walks in the office, “Mr. President. He's here.” He tells him nodding to the office, Tom smiles at the young man “Thank you. I'll be right there. Go home Wyatt.”

“He'll use his platform to attack your administration, sir.” Seth says, Tom is sure Cornelius will try, he’ll use any way he has to attack him, it makes him wonder really was that his goal from the beginning? Was it what he was planning from the beginning? Was it his goal since the beginning?

“I can't control what Moss does or when he does it. All I can do is what I think is right. I'll handle it.” Tom says trying to reassure them, he closes the door behind him Kendra bites her lip, this was suddenly hitting her much more personally, it was a deep betrayal.

“Let justice be done though the heavens may fall.” Kendra murmurs, Lyor chuckles from her left “Oh, they're gonna fall.” He points out.

“Unless West gets to Moss before Moss gets to a microphone.”

* * *

 

“Mr. West, thank you for waiting.” Tom smiles at the other man and sits down, there’s a look on Ethan’s eyes, one that Tom doesn’t notice at first, “Thank you for the time, Mr. President. I'm nearly ready to issue my preliminary findings. I just have a few questions.” Tom is a little surprised by it, he’s a student of history he knows that those things are not wrapped in such a short time.  “And I am at your disposal.” A little voice in the back of his head told him not to dare talk to West alone, but he ignored it, “Hannah Wells... she, uh, worked in the White House?”

“Yes, she was reassigned here shortly after the Capitol bombing. There were facets in the FBI that were interfering with her investigation. Then-Acting Director Foerstel and I believed this was the best way to protect her.”

“She was like a Swiss Army knife to you guys, right? I mean, you had her drop off money to rebels in Kunami?” Tom starts feeling a bit weird with some of his questions, this was getting a little out of his comfort zone, “If by a "Swiss Army knife," you mean that she was versatile, yes. And yes, I had her deliver funds to rebel forces in Kunami. And to investigate Secretary Moss's alleged obstruction...”

“Mr. West, you don't have the security clearance to continue this discussion.” Tom cuts him off, this was getting into a very dangerous part, “As I understood it, you're here to investigate the wrongdoings of President Moss.” Tom says, he right now gets what everyone told him months ago, this was truly a runaway train and he’s not sure he likes where it goes. “Oh, I investigated President Moss.”

“And...?”

“I found evidence of bad judgment. Narcissism. Pettiness. But those things aren't crimes.” Tom bites his lips, this wasn’t what he wanted to hear, “And his classified leaks?”

“I can't prove he leaked just because you said he did.”

“He leaked classified information to undermine my potential candidacy.” He says, “How do you know that?” as soon as West asks him something in Tom clicks this isn’t going where he wanted it to go or even thought it would go. “An internal investigation conducted by my staff. Mr. West, motive matters.”

“Yes, it does. You deployed Hannah Wells to find dirt on a man you knew was a political opponent.”

“That is absolutely not true.”

“She conducted warrantless searches. Unlawful surveillance.”

“Where the hell is this going?” he asks, he feels a knot raising in his throat.

“I have probable cause to believe you were part of a criminal conspiracy. I'll have to notify the Attorney General of my findings.” This was a punch in the gut, he blinks a couple times, “Okay, this discussion is over. And I am not talking with you again unless the White House counsel is present.”

“That may be the first thing we agree upon, Mr. President.”

* * *

 

Tom walked back into his private office, Kendra is the first to jump to her feet and come close to him, he looks like he’s about to drop, his whole staff is in the room waiting for him, he looks at the TV, the GOP’s announcement is playing there live, “Ethan West is going to forward his findings to the Attorney General.” Tom says, he walks to the desk and sits down raising his feet on the desk, “It's not clear that a sitting president can be indicted for anything.” Kendra says, her mind going into a lawyer mode fast, this day was so long it seemed never ending to her, her feet were complaining, her back was killing her, she needed some time off but apparently this was not the time for that.

“That's not the point. An indictment would precipitate a Constitutional crisis.” Emily mentions, she’s sitting on the desk on the other side from Tom, he can see it in her face, she grew tired, he doesn’t really blame her, all this is exhausting, “And cripple your presidency.” Aaron adds.  

“And end thoughts of another term.” Lyor murmurs, it makes Tom smile, especially when the young man seemed to be extremely startled “Assuming you had thoughts.” He added.

Tom lets his beer on his desk and stands up, he can see them, all of them are worried, tired, they need to get out of this building, “I want you all to do something for me.” They seem ready to get in a fight if he asks them, “Yes, sir.”

“Go home. Get a good night's sleep, 'cause you're gonna need it. 'Cause we're gonna be back here first thing tomorrow.” Kendra smiles “You know why?” Tom asks.

“Why, sir?”

“'Cause we're gonna do our jobs. And we're gonna keep doing them until someone makes us stop. Thank you. All of you.” They slowly start standing up, taking their blazers from the back of their chairs, Tom turns to pick up his jacket he sees Lyor and Seth walking out from the corner of his eye and turns “Seth Lyor have a safe flight.” He tells them remembering they are on their way to Taurasi in a few hours from now.

Soon his office is empty, looking around he wonders if his time in it is coming to an end, he chuckles remembering how less than a week ago he was thinking of running, he was wondering what he would do in four more years holding the highest office in the land, and now, he’s one step away not only from being kicked out of the office, but of getting indicted as well.

He wonders how Alex is going to react she’d probably get ready for a fight, that’s who she is deep down, but he doesn’t know if he has the strength to.

He shakes his head, this is making him dizzy, he picks up his things, gathering all the files he needed to have reviewed till tomorrow, he told his staff they’d be there tomorrow to do their jobs and he’s expected to do the same as well.

Alex is waiting for him, she’s sitting on her palms, the heel of her shoe pocking the thick carpet, “Tom!” she jumps up when she sees him entering the living room, “You heard?” he asks her, Alex bites her lip, “Yeah.” She wraps her arms around him, he can feel her warm breath on his neck, “We’ll get through this as well.” She says, he smiles hiding his face in her hair; he isn’t sure if he believes her, but he sure loves hearing it.


	2. Fly Fly Fly (away)

Seth finds their seats, he can hear Lyor following behind him, his eyes are stuck on his throat and he can feel the heat from them, he doesn’t know why this man is affecting him so much, “Here we are” he says putting his back bag on the overhead storage, “Wanna have the window seat?” he asks, Lyor shrugs “Sure, why not.” Lyor walks inside, his hipbone brushes against Seth’s as he tries to move out of the other man’s way, Lyor freezes for a moment, he stands there unmoving, not even turning his head to look back, before quickly getting in his seat.

Seth sits down next to him, he tries to calm the butterflies in his stomach down, this was one of the worse feelings to have for someone you work with. He went through this with Emily he doesn’t need to get into it again, he needs to shut those feelings off and soon, whatever they are.

* * *

Aaron decides to go for a run, it’s almost midnight, the streets are still lively, cars passing by him as he runs through the dark sidewalks, his earphones blasting music, he can’t hear a thing as his feet carry him fast to the other side of the town, he stands at the entrance of the building, his legs start feeling like they’re on fire as he stops at the entrance, looking up her windows are dark, he wants to believe she’s simply sleeping but he knows better, he knows better than to hope that she’s sleeping, he knows she’s not there, his hand goes to his pocket, his fingers curling around the single key, she had given it to him a few months ago when Damian broke into her apartment after they came back from Cuba.

He doesn’t know why but he walks determined to the entrance, standing in front of her apartment door he feels his hands sweating profoundly as he wonders what to do should he open the door with his key and walk in, risking finding her inside and shattering her trust in him, or not? He rings the bell and waits, no one answers he closes his eyes tightly and leans on the door, his head hitting the hard cold wood. “Come on Hannah” he murmurs, he tries the bell again but she doesn’t answer this time either. Taking the keys out of his pocket, his hand is slightly shaking as he unlocks the door, the apartment is dark, no lights whatsoever around him, he takes a good look around, all of Hannah’s things are still there, her leather jacket discarded on the back of the couch he runs his fingers over the soft leather, it smelled like her, everything around him smelled like her, he wonders what it would feel like having this scent around him the whole time, he can imagine it only will feel like a bliss. He walks to the bedroom, the bed is almost perfectly made, the dark brown comforter pulled perfectly over the sheets and the pillows. Looking around there is no personal picture no sign of the woman he knows actually living here, it makes him wonder and at the same time it makes him sad thinking back to his apartment and how each shelf is almost suffocating with pictures of his family, of his parents, of his brothers and sister, his cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces. He wonders why Hannah doesn’t have any pictures of her family, he knows she doesn’t have a good relationship with her father and that she is also an only child but he comes to realize he never actually talked to her about it.

Family, in general, is a forbidden issue between them, he actually realizes that he knows so little about her before meeting her. She’s such a private person and yet here he is in the middle of her apartment seriously considering sleeping in her couch just in case she comes back.

* * *

 

Tom was almost asleep, his head on Alex’s shoulder, she had her laptop on her legs, checking his eulogy for Judge Putnam’s funeral, she’s working fast, her fingers softly clicking away as she makes changes to the small speech he had prepared, it mesmerizes him, how fast she works.

The glass of whiskey in his hands is nearly empty and he notices her wine glass is empty as well, it makes him smirk, he’ll never admit it to her but some of their best sex was while they had both a little alcohol in them. He turns his head burring his face on her shoulder, the sleeve on this side had fallen and Tom got direct access to her skin. He can see her smirking when he kissed her shoulder the first time.

Alex could feel Tom slowly kissing her shoulder, she tried to ignore it and at first she was good at it, as the time progressed though she could feel him softly sucking on the skin, “Tom” she warns him, he knows as well as she does that he needs to have his eulogy ready by tomorrow.

“Come on Alex this might be one of our last chances to have sex in the White House!” he says, she looks down and sees his eyes a little hazy from the alcohol, his sleepless nights made him much less tolerant to it, he’s smirking, trying to keep pouting. “You said that last week too.”

“It’s not my fault they try to kick me out every week Alex!”

* * *

 

“Emily!” Kendra screams her name, the other woman doesn’t respond and she can feel the bile raising, she was the one who send her to her house, if something happened to the chief of staff she would never be able to forgive herself. “EMILY!”

Mike takes the phone from her hand, “Ms. Rhodes?” he asks calmly, there’s a soft groan from the other end of the line “I’m calling an ambulance stat Ms. Rhodes. Hang in there.” He gives the phone back to Kendra “Try to get her to respond” he mouths before turning to his intercom.

* * *

 

Lyor finds himself staring at Seth, he can’t sleep no matter how hard he might have tried, Seth on the other hand seemed to have no problem falling asleep, his head was thrown back, his mouth slightly open as a mask was covering his eyes shutting all lights from the cabin. Lyor starts studying him, he looks rested, younger. He bites his lip, earlier when they brushed past one another he felt something, he doesn’t know what was it but he knows it felt like electricity passed through him.

He takes another look at the sleeping man, he notices how his right hand is still clutching his notebook and his left hand his phone, his earphones shut off all noises that might disturb his sleep. He makes it seem so easy, falling asleep, it’s a wonder for Lyor. Looking back at the papers he was studying before Seth’s face distracted him he realizes that he doesn’t care as much about what’s on them. _He’s more interesting to him._

* * *

 

Tom is startled when the phone rings, Alex pushes him back slightly, “The phone Tom.” She tells him, he hates himself right now, her voice is deeper than normal, her eyes clouded, this was the worse time for the phone to ring. He starts wondering if someone is watching the bedroom and just calls every time he’s within twenty minutes of having an orgasm. “What?” his frustration on the phone makes Alex laugh but she bites her lip tightly trying not to make any sound, she notices how his face changes from frustration to fear to terror, “Is she ok?” he asks, it makes Alex worried as well she sits up gathering the sheet around her, it makes her roll her eyes, since coming to the White House it was a stupid habit she had picked up, she honestly didn’t know why she did it, it’s not like Tom hadn’t seen her naked before. “Mike get the car ready we’re going to the hospital.”

He hangs up the phone and hastily starts picking up his clothes off of the floor, “Tom what happened?” Alex asks him, he turns around, the look on his face scares him “Emily went to Kendra’s to pick some stuff for her,” he stops she can see him swallowing “She was shot.”

“Oh my god!” Alex blinks a couple times, this was shocking, “Is she ok?” she asks, Tom pulls a shirt over his head, opting for the pants he was wearing earlier rather than searching for his jeans right now “She’s alive, I need to go to the hospital, make sure.”

“I understand” she cuts him off. “Apparently Kendra was on the phone while it happened, so if you could.” She smiles and nods, “Don’t worry,” she tells him “I’ll make sure Kendra is not alone.”

“Thank you”

“I love you.” He stops at the door, turning around slowly “Love you too.”

* * *

 

“I have to go get the motorcade ready, are you alright?” Mike asks Kendra, she’s still in shock, not really talking, she just nodded yes, it didn’t reassure Mike one bit but knowing the president either his wife or brother will be down here with Kendra soon enough.

Mike puts his hand on her shoulder for a moment “She’ll be alright.” He tells her before hastily leaving the room.

* * *

 

Trey walked out of the kitchen and almost bumped onto Tom “Hey where are you going?” he asks, his hands both full with food and a glass of water, “Trey, Emily got shot, Kendra might need you, come with me.” The two brothers walked down the stairs, Tom didn’t have time to get into much detail.

They reach the first floor, Mike is already waiting Tom there to get him to the garage, Trey doesn’t wait he simply turns on his heel and almost runs to Kendra’s office.

He finds her sitting on her chair, her face hidden in her hands, soft sobs leaving her lip. He walks slowly, cautiously to her side, “Kendra?” he places a hand on her shoulder doesn’t want to startle her given everything she went through today. She still stiffs a bit until she realizes who it is. She looks up, her eyes are red, tears still rolling down her cheeks, it’s like a stab in the abdomen for Trey who just wraps his arms around her shoulders. Kendra bites her lip, she wasn’t really used to this type of comfort from people, certainly not people she dates, if that’s what they are doing now, she wraps her arms around his neck best she can, hiding her face on his chest, “It’s all my fault Trey.” She whispers, her voice breaking from the sobs.

Trey takes a step back, her arms falling from his shoulders, he kneels down in front of her taking her hands in his and squeezing them, “This was not your fault, Emily offered to go to your place and get you some things, because she’s your friend, and that’s what friends do. The only person at fault here is the man that shot her.” Kendra bites her lip, she feels a strong urge to just kiss him right now, it’s so surprising but it makes her feel much better, just talking to him, having him point out the obvious which she already knew was enough to make her feel overall better.

They stay like that for a long time, Trey’s knees start complaining, the hard floor is doing a number on them but he doesn’t move, Kendra seems to have calmed down, their foreheads touching. “This day didn’t go at all where I thought it would. It honestly sucked” She murmurs, Trey smirks, “I hope I wasn’t in the suck-y part of the day, although I don’t mind to suck if you ask me.” Kendra can’t stop laughing at his joke, it was stupid, maybe slightly juvenile but it makes her laugh, it takes her mind off of things that make her feel suffocating.

“Thank you.” She whispers, Trey is confused, why would she thanking him “Why?” he asks.

Kendra smiles and leans forward her lips hovering inches away from his “For being you.” She tells him right before she closes the distance.


	3. Run

Tom doesn’t remember much of the ride, but he realizes that he starts remembering it by heart, it stings, he always hated hospitals but in the past year he’s been in them more than he would have liked. The car parks in the now familiar underground garage, this time he waits for Mike to open the door for him, finishing the last swipe of the area. Tom smiles awkwardly and starts walking to the emergency, his pace steadily picking up until he’s running by the time he is in the ER, Mike leads him to the room Emily was in, he opens the door and walks in, she’s sitting on an exam bed, she’s wearing a hospital gown which makes her look so much more sickly, he wonders if it’s on purpose, if hospital gowns are made that way to just make everyone look sicker than they are, he breaths out in relief. “Thank God you're okay.” He says, Emily looks at him and Mike walking in and is surprised, “Uh, I'm f-fine, Mr. President. You didn't have to come.” She tells him.

Tom shakes his head “My chief of staff gets shot, the only place I'm going is the hospital.” He tells her, Emily smiles, “The bullet just grazed me. It was 13 stitches.” She tries to reassure him, always trying to minimize how important the situation is if she's involved.

“13 too many.” Tom reminds her, he walks closer and puts a hand on her unharmed shoulder, Emily smiles and turns to Mike “What happened to the shooter?” she asks him, Tom turns to look to Mike, he hopes they caught the guy, he realizes in his frenzy to get to the hospital he didn’t ask, all he cared was for Emily to be alright. “Fred Archer. We took him out.” He says, Tom smiles, it’s pained and short, this situation brings just another reminder of their own mortality he doesn’t like facing it, he doesn’t like the possibility of losing someone so near and dear in his heart.

“If something had happened to you, I...”

“It didn't.” Emily cuts him off, “Did West bring charges against Moss?” she asks, Tom shakes his head, he doesn’t want her to worry about this, it’s such a minor issue for someone that just got shot, he knows the pain she must be feeling all too well. “No. Emily, I don't want you worrying about anything except getting better, okay?”

* * *

 

Alex was waiting in the bedroom, she got a text from Trey telling her not to worry he’s with Kendra and he’ll get her to get some sleep, she left some clean clothes on the dresser for her to find tomorrow. Now all she could do was wait for Tom to come back, it was a long time before she heard his steps on the floor outside the bedroom, “How’s Emily?” she asks him as soon as he opened the door. He’s taken aback “Hey I thought you’d be sleeping by now.” He says, he drops his coat on the chair to his left. “Well?” she asks him.

“She’s fine got 13 stitches” Alex smiles “So she’ll be back on her feet in less than a week.” Tom smiles, “Yeah pretty much.”

“She’ll be fine Tom.”

* * *

 

Tom walks to the conference room, this was not how he was planning on starting his day. “Let's get started.” He says sitting down on his chair, everyone that stood up when he walked in follows his lead and sits down, he finds it a bit hypocritical

“All right, here's the list of charges against you that I've referred to the attorney general.” Tom takes the paper Ethan is giving and takes a look inside, “Burglary, witness tampering, obstruction of government proceedings.”

“The President didn't do any of those things.” Kendra says interrupting him, she doesn’t have the patience to really hear all that.

“No, but Hannah Wells did on the President's behalf, which makes him a coconspirator.” Ethan says, Tom chuckles and shakes his head, this was smart, he’d have to give it to him, it was really brilliant.

“And based on Mr. West's findings, I have probable cause to file charges against you, sir.” Ray says, he looks at the older man, he was angry, at Ray, at himself, at Cornelius, at the world.

“Nothing will come of those charges, Mr. Attorney General. Because Hannah Wells was not acting at my direction.” He tells him, Ray shakes his head “The basis of liability is that you granted her authority.”

“Well, even if you could make that dubious case, there's no model for charging a sitting president with a crime.” Kendra reminds them, so far this was the only bottom line she managed to come up with, it’s a little frustrating for her that she couldn’t come up with a better tag line, but she spend most of the night awake staring at the wall while his little brother was sleeping next to her.

Tom smiles a bit, Kendra was getting tired, he could feel it, his usually eloquent and quick witted lawyer restores to reminding them that they _can’t_ charge him and not why they _shouldn’t. “_ Which is why it's in the best interests of the country to find a political solution to the problem. And it's why I've asked Senators Feller and Crowell to join me.” Tom smiles, this was going exactly where he was thinking it was. “Ray, I'm gonna stop you right there. I'm not resigning.” He tells them, he sees Feller smirking, he really hates that man with a burning passion as he came to realized _“_ No, sir, we have a different proposition in mind. One that won't plunge the country into crisis.”

“Announce that you're not standing for re-election. You can finish out your term. And Attorney General Beckett will decline to file charges.” Crowell makes it seem like they’re doing him a favor, he realizes that he doesn’t want any favors from either of them if that’s their idea of a favor.

“Well, the attorney general works for me, so I'm specifically interested in his explanation for colluding with Congress.”

“Sir, if I bring charges against you, it will precipitate a constitutional crisis, and I don't think that's good for the country.”

“Yes, but your solution clears the playing field for my opponents. Isn't that right, Senators? So you can back the candidates you want.” Crowell looks a little ashamed but Feller just keeps on smirking, the smirk makes him seriously consider punching him in the face. That would stop the smirking at least.

“Mr. President, the media is gonna get a hold of this. I can't sit on it. Now, I intend to file charges tomorrow. I need your decision by the end of the day.” Ray says, Tom looks at the people across from him and stands up “Understood.” He says walking out of the room.

* * *

Tom can hear Aaron and Kendra walking behind him as he storms in the oval office, “24 hours ago, they wanted me to run. Now they want me to run away.” He says as soon as the door was closed behind them, he turns around, the realization of how small his staff really is.

“They're political animals.” Aaron says, his voice pulls Tom back to the reality, he makes a mental note if he doesn’t get kicked out of the White House to hire more people, no wonder his whole staff looks about to faint.

“The attorney general is tougher to explain.” Kendra says, she doesn’t claim to know the attorney general well but she knows enough about him to know that he’s not interested in politics, a straight shooter only caring about the facts and the law.  “Well, not to me. The first sign of trouble, he betrays you.” Aaron says, the slightly anger he lets out in a weird way warms Tom’s heart, “I'm not happy with what Ray did, but the truth is, he just found an imperfect solution to a complicated problem.” He says.

“The one he's offering isn't it.”

“Agreed. But in the end, he's doing what he thinks is right. I can't blame him for that. Kendra, we're gonna need to find another fix.”

“I'll see if there's a way to head this off at the pass.” She says before she turns to leave the room, Aaron opens the binder he was holding with his schedule,  “You're meeting with the Fed chairman later this morning, then the NIH update. Judge Putnam's memorial is this afternoon.” He tells him, Tom groans he totally had forgot the memorial, “Send my deepest regrets, I’ll inform Alex that I won’t make it,  but we've got too many fires to put out today, including Taurasi's referendum on independence. When are Seth and Lyor having their meeting with the governor?” he asks sitting down at his desk, “They landed in Taurasi a couple hours ago. They should be sitting with the governor just about now. I'll get you an update.”

* * *

 

To say that the meeting with the governor didn’t go well would be an understatement, Seth was glad that at least Lyor didn’t attack the man something that going in Seth wasn’t completely sure he would manage to avoid. Oh he can only imagine the head titles about it, “ _The president’s senior advisor attacks the governor of Taurasi while attempting to keep them for declaring independence”_ it would be marvelous.

“If Taurasi leaves, it could be the first domino to fall.” He hears Lyor mumbling from his left.

“Mm-hmm, Guam, American Samoa, the Marianas could follow.”

“All of which are of critical strategic importance to the U.S.” Seth nods, he can almost hear the wheals in Lyor’s mind this is one of the times he wishes he knew what the other man was thinking, what was making him tick. “Look, if we can't talk the governor down, Kirkman's legacy could be presiding over the gradual dismantling of the American empire.” He says trying to get Lyor’s mind off of whatever was bothering him today.

“Gradual dismantling isn't what I'm worried about today. Let's close this deal and get back to the Alamo. They need reinforcements... even if I don't.” Seth rolls his eyes, “Lyor, I'm not a reinforcement. I worked for Senator Perez. He's the head of the International Development Committee. I know the region” he reminds him, Lyor hums not saying anything else, it annoys Seth a lot but at the same time he finds it endearing, he decides he needs some time away from Lyor, “Okay, look, we've got some time. I'm gonna hit the coffee shop down the street.” He says, “Hey, you should kick that habit like I did. You know, caffeine makes a person irritable and anxious. Ow! Son of a bitch. Is that a tsetse fly?” Seth looks at Lyor is shock and amusement as the other man walks distracted down the hall of the hotel.

“Um, see you later.”

* * *

 

“Hey.” Aaron says walking in Kendra’s office; the woman looks up from a stack of papers she was reading and smiles softly, “Hey.”

“Do you have any idea how the President can fight these criminal charges?” he asks, he already has an idea what might help but knows that would mean throwing Hannah under the bus and this is not something he would like to think about.

Kendra looks down for a moment, he knows as well as she does what might help the president but she doesn’t see Aaron throwing Hannah under the bus, even if it means saving the president. “The President's best bet is to assert executive privilege to quash the indictment. But the attorney general would just appeal, and the case would be stuck in the courts. It would cripple the administration's credibility. We need to convince the A.G. that Hannah wasn't acting at the President's behest. She needs to give us an affidavit now.”

“That's not gonna happen.”

“Why not? Hannah is loyal to the President. She can attest truthfully that he never directed her to commit a crime.” She tells him, the look on Aaron’s eyes changes, the pain starts showing, his voice shaking as he tells Kendra, “She went off the grid. I can't get a hold of her.”

* * *

 

Alex walks to the office, she is almost sure that Tom won’t make it to the funeral but she wants to make sure, she fixes the sleeve of her blazer and walks in “Hey” Tom looks up his face soon twists into a look of regret and guilt, she knows that look very well, “Hi, I meant to call you,” Alex walks to the desk and leans against it next to him “Sorry I can’t come with you to the funeral” she smiles, and cups his face with her hand, “It’s ok Tom don’t worry you have way too many fires today.” She tries to reausre him, she knows that he’s going to feel guilty, mostly because he knows how little she likes _this_ part of the job.

“Still, I’d wish I could be with you.” He says, Alex smiles again, “I know, so do I” she leans down and kisses him “I’ll drag Trey with me.”

Tom chuckles “Did Leo get a response from the university?” he asks, Alex shakes her head “No, nothing yet.”

“You’ll think he’ll get in Georgetown?” he asks.

“Of course he will.” She stands up and fixes the skirt of her dress “Call me if the letter comes ok.”

* * *

 

Hannah walks to the apartment she can see the back of a girl packing her things, “Hi. I'm looking for Amy Bleecker.” She says, the girl barely looks around when she tells her, “Amy's not here.”

“Do you know where she went?”

“We just broke for our spring hiatus. She should be back next week.”

“You don't have an address for her, do you?”

“No, we're not really close.”

“What about a phone number?”

“She doesn't have a mobile.” The last answer makes bells go off in Hannah’s head she doesn’t believe it took her so long, this was such an easy plan and she should have known. “So a 16-year-old who goes to a fancy school doesn't have a phone, her roommate has no clue how to get in touch with her, and she has a bed that looks like it's never been slept in. I don't think Amy gone. I think that you're Amy, and you live here alone.”

* * *

 

“Hey.” Tom says, Leo called him five minutes ago and he nearly bolted upstairs. “Dad, I would've come to you.” He says, Tom sits down, his whole body is almost vibrating, this was such an incredible moment, “Come on. Let me see it.” He says, Leo gives him the letter, Tom reads it fast his eyes flying over the lines “Georgetown.”

“Yep.”

“Congratulations. Your first choice.” Tom wraps Leo in his arms tightly, he felt like crying from the sheer happiness he felt but he bit his lip trying to keep it at bay, last thing he needed was to start crying right now.

“My first choice was any school in Hawaii, but I figure I can learn to surf during a gap year.”

“You go to Georgetown, you can open up a surfing school. Let's celebrate. Dinner wherever you want.’

“Good. Let's take Air Force One to Italy and get some real pizza.”

“How about Bertelli's on Connecticut, and we shoot the moon?”

“Can I get a beer?”

“No. But I'm really proud of you.”

“Come here.” He says wrapping Leo in another hug, he couldn’t believe that here he was about to send his son to college, he remembers it like it was yesterday when he was born, a little wrinkled pink baby wrapped tightly in light blue blankets, his blue hat too big on his head, he was tiny, and now he’s off to college.

“Have you told your mom?” he asks him when he pulls back, Leo looks down, the letter came just after his mom left for the funeral but he didn’t call, “No, not yet, I’ll tell her when she’s back from the funeral.” Tom chuckles Leo knows them better than they know themselves apparently, “You’re right she wouldn’t go to the funeral if she knew.” Leo smirks “She’ll be mad.” Tom says, he doesn’t really think Alex will be mad, not exactly but she will definitely be upset that they didn’t wait for her to be back, specifically upset with him for not waiting.

“I bet she’ll let me have a beer.” Leo says, Tom looks at his son, a smirk on his lips, “No way.” Leo shrugs, taking the letter Tom left on the coffee table in his hands.

Mike walks in the room, “Sorry to interrupt, Leo. Mr. President, you're needed in Command Ops.” Tom stands up, a proud smile on his lips as he walks to Mike “My son just got into Georgetown.”

* * *

 

“General, what's going on?” Tom asks, Mike told him of an impending emergency near Turasi but he couldn’t tell him anything more.

“Sir, the NEIC detected a massive 8.2 earthquake in a subduction zone 15 miles off the coast of Taurasi, triggering a tsunami. And we didn't have enough time to evacuate the coastline, sir.”

“Aaron, reach out to Seth and Lyor. Now.”

“Yes, sir.” Aaron scrambles trying to get a hold of Seth and Lyor but he couldn’t, looking up they can see the giant wave as it moves towards the shore, “Oh, my God.”

* * *

 

Lyor hears the people murmuring somewhere to his left, at first he didn’t pay any attention to them but then he heard a sound, the sound of an angry sea and he decides to walk to the balcony, he sees a huge wave coming closer and closer to the island, his feet freeze right there and he looks down at the crowd in the street, Seth is somewhere there and he has no idea of the danger coming their way fast, he starts considering how much he’ll be injured if he jumps down, there’s a pool under the balcony so he could probably survive “That's not good.” He says under his breath, a hand grips his arm and drags him back inside, he trips, his head collides with the marble floor hard and everything just goes dark around him.

* * *

 

Aaron calls frantically both Lyor and Seth but he doesn’t get any response back, he curses under his breath, “Neither one is answering, sir.” He says as they all in PEOC are standing helplessly watching the wave crash into the island almost covering a big part of it.

* * *

 

“Senators, hundreds are dead in Taurasi, thousands more missing, including two of my senior staff. We need to get a handle on this before it becomes a full-blown humanitarian crisis.” Tom can’t believe that he has to pitch this as an actual thing, could congress really be considering to leave thousands of people unaided?

“And we're sympathetic. There are 1,500 American tourists who should be evacuated immediately. The Eighth Fleet is 100 miles out. They're moving in to pick them up.” Tom is confused, Feller seems to only be talking about the 1500 American tourists ignoring the about 800.000 locals, also American citizens. “But there are also 800,000 civilians... locals... Who need fresh water, food, medical supplies.” He looks to his left seeing the door open, Emily walks in he’s surprised, never thinking she’d be back so soon, he doesn’t say anything Aaron pulls back a chair for her, this is just another thing that he will have to deal with later.

“All of which they should've thought about before cutting ties with us.” Tom is taken aback by his response, this was really happening, they were willing to play hardball with people’s lives. Looking at Aaron and Emily he can see Aaron is just as surprised that they would actually do it, Emily though has a look of almost resignation, of course she isn’t surprised by this.

“They haven't formally done that.” Emily points out, “Point is, if they want out of our sphere of influence, they can't slither back in when it suits them.” Feller words make Tom clench his jaw, this was the most inappropriate response the man could have mustered right now. “With all due respect, Senator, this nation has a noble history of helping people when they're in trouble. Children are dying, and we can stop it.” Tom reminds him, he looks at Crowell she seems to be whispering something to Feller, “We can authorize a supplemental aid package of $3 million.” She mentions, “That's a few dollars a person. It's cosmetic.” Emily points out, “We'll talk to Appropriations over the next few days, see what we can come up with.” She says, Feller gets this annoying smirk on his face again, “Best we can do, sir.” Tom bites his lip, “Thank you.” He tells them and dismisses them, they walk out of the room, the door closes behind them, “Emily, what the hell are you doing back so soon?” he asks her, Emily smiles “My job, sir. I'm fine.”  

“They don't want to reward a renegade province, sir.” Aaron says, Tom nods, “That's part of it.”

“The other part's political. You're the savior of Taurasi, you get a P.R. bump. It reduces the pressure on you to take the attorney general's deal. The senators want as much leverage over you as they can get.” what Aaron says makes sense, and he knows that in the political world he is now a part of this is what he might face.

“Well, I'm not gonna play politics with these people's lives. How much support do we have in Congress for an aid package?”

“Some, but not enough to overcome party leadership.” Emily says, Tom bites his lip, this was not what he wanted to hear, “Then ask Kendra if we can circumvent the Congress with an executive order.” He tells her, “Yes, sir. Have we heard from Seth or Lyor?” she asks Tom feels a sting again, the thought that two of his closest advisors could be missing is too hard. “The wave took down the cell towers, and providers are working to restore service.” Aaron says, he looks at the look on the president’s face, “We're turning over every stone to find them.”

* * *

 

“That kid clocked me.” Hannah says in shock, Chuck chuckles from the other end of the line “Like father, like daughter.” He murmurs.

“Well, she's scared. She's probably figured out her father isn't who he said he was, which means I could be anybody. Look, I promised Damian that I would look after his daughter, make sure she was safe from Valeria, and that's what I'm gonna do.”

“Did a name search. She's the only Amy Bleecker under 30 in the Greater London area.”

“All right, well, she has to have a place to go. What about credit-card activity?”

“Repeated purchases of an Oyster card at the South Burnley tube.”

“Okay.”

“I got an address for a Paul Bleecker in the neighborhood.” Hannah smiles, of course Chuck wouldn’t disappoint her, “That's Damian's pseudonym. Send me the details.”

“On the way.”

* * *

 

Emily was sitting behind her desk, she was holding her arm close to her chest, there’s a throbbing pain in her arm but tries to ignore it, “Hey.” She looks up and sees Kendra walking in, “The President's got half the police force on the island looking for Seth and Lyor.” She says, Kendra sits down across from Emily, “I've left voicemails. I've e-mailed their accounts.”

“You should be home resting.” Kendra says, she knows Emily won’t follow her advice, “Kendra, the President's political future hangs in the balance. Thousands of people may die because Congress would rather play politics than send aid, and Seth and Lyor are missing. I don't think today is the day to binge-watch "Top Chef."” She says, Kendra smiles she wasn’t going to say anything else to her, after all it wasn’t her place, just yesterday it was her being told to go home, to take the day off and refusing, “Okay. I've checked with our constitutional-law experts. A multibillion-dollar foreign-aid project is likely presidential overreach.”

“Yeah, because Congress has budgetary authority. We need a workaround.”

“Yes, but the President has access to a lot of discretionary funds, right?” Kendra asks, Emily smirks “FEMA, DoD.”

“Yeah, he can temporarily reallocate the money.” Emily says, “I'll get the OMB director on it now.”

“Thank you.”

Kendra stands up and walks to the exit, when she gets to the door she looks back, Emily is occupied with work and doesn’t look up, she seems to be back to normal. Maybe they are just that weird in this White House, work is the best medicine for them.

* * *

 

“Amy, we need to talk, okay?” Hannah is expecting for Amy to just start screaming, so she’s not surprised when the girl starts running, “I'm not going to hurt you. Amy! Amy! Amy, stop!” Hannah corners Amy in a dead end, “Come any closer, and I'll scream!”

“Your dad, he liked black tea in the morning. He used to sweeten it with marmalade. The only jokes he told were knock-knock jokes... Bad ones. And when he laughed, his, um... His left eyebrow would... Would go up. I cared about him, too. Amy, someone is trying to hurt you. I'm not going to let that happen. Will you come with me?” Hannah feels raw opening herself up to a complete stranger was exhausting, but she is still very proud that she managed not to cry.

* * *

 

When Tom heard that they managed to get in touch with Taurasi he felt like crying, take, “Lyor, thank God you're okay. What's it like on the ground there?” Tom asks, “Bad, sir. Uh, dozens of hotels were demolished. Our consulate's gone. People were swept out to sea.” Tom nods, “Tell the governor we're gonna do absolutely everything we can. As soon as our ships dock, they'll start unloading medical supplies.” Lyor smiles, “I already have, sir.”

“But we have a problem. We're in a fight over further aid.” He says, Lyor frowns “I think we need to take this public.” He says, Tom smiles, “And I agree, but I'd like Seth's input on this.” He says, it was weird to him that Seth didn’t appear so long, he imagined that he was walking around probably already setting up a strategy, “Seth is still missing, sir.” Lyor says, he blinks, he couldn’t have heard right, “What? He asks in shock, “He left the hotel right before the wave hit. I can't find him.”

* * *

 

“Your father had something someone else wanted... Something they think you might have. What is it?” Hannah asks, Amy shrugs “I don't know. Like you saw, there's nothing in his apartment.”  She says, Hannah rolls her eyes, “That's why I'm asking you to take me to his personal storage.”

“My dad wasn't in the foreign service, was he?” she asks, Hannah looks at the girl, “No.”

“Can you tell me what he did?”

“No.”

“That's okay. I already know. He did what you do.”

* * *

 

“Governor, what's the latest?”  Tom asks, he braces himself for the worse he knows will come “Hundreds dead, Mr. President. Many unaccounted for. Most of the island is without electricity, including our hospitals. The provisions your navy off-loaded were not enough.” He bites his lip, of course it wasn’t, he knew that very well, “I understand. Congress has approved a provisional aid package of $3 million. I can get that to you immediately.” The governor chuckles, he knows how little $3 million meant “$3 million? That's not aid, that's tokenism Sir, I realize how hypocritical I must sound now, but Taurasi needs America's help.”

“Governor, I need you to trust me. I'm gonna do everything I can.” The governor doesn’t seem to believe him but he gets up  and leaves from the picture, “Lyor, have you heard from Seth?” Emily asks, “Not yet. The operative word being "yet."” Tom closes his eyes, this was a nightmare, he wanted to get there, to start looking for Seth himself but he couldn’t, “Keep looking.”

“Yes, sir.”

He turns to leave PEOC, Emily and Aaron following him closely behind “Sir.” Emily’s voice stops him, he slows his pace enough for her to catch up with him. “Kendra says Congress just got an injunction to stop your executive order.” Tom stops, “Well, she needs to make an immediate appeal.”

“She is. D.C. Circuit affirmed. She's appealing to the Supreme Court.” Tom nods and picks up his pace again, he turns to Aaron,

“Have you reached out to our allies?”

“I have, sir, but they're saying Taurasi's an American territory and that the richest country in the world can take care of its own.”

“Call in favors, beg if you have to, but we need the international community to step up.”

“Yes, sir.”

* * *

 

Hannah follows Amy down a narrow staircase, it’s a little darker than she would like. “My dad kept a safe here.” She says showing her the locked heavy door.

“And you're sure you know the combination?”

“If I didn't, can't you just whip out your liquid nitrogen?” Hannah bites her lip, she wouldn’t admit it, not really but the kid is funny.

“Yeah, sure, it's in my shoe, next to my ray gun.” The kid smiles and pushes the door open, both their smiles fall when they see the empty room, “Damn it. Amy, what was in here?”

“I have no idea.”

“You have no idea? You knew where this was. You had the combination to the safe. You never came here when your dad was traveling?”

“How do I know this isn't some long con?”

“Some what?”

“You gain my trust, get me to lead to what you're looking for, then you kill me.”

“Amy... do you want to know what's difficult about what I do, about what your dad did? Sometimes you need to take what you think you know, throw it out the window, and follow your instincts because your life depends on it. Good luck.”

“It was a list of names. Five pages.”

“Is there a copy?”

“No.” she turns to leave again, “Then that doesn't do us any good.” She murmurs under her breath.

“"Mark Abercrombie, 2642 Drury Lane, Apartment 12D, Staffordshire, England. David Appel, 161 Rue Etoile, Unit 3, La-Celle-Saint-Cloud, France. Anne Avondale..."” she freezes at her feet and turns around, Amy has a mischievous smirk on her lips, “Wait a minute. You memorized the whole list?” Hannah asks, “Yes.”

“Why?”

“I can't help it. I have a photographic memory.”

“Hang on to that photo. Let's go.”

* * *

 

Leo takes another look at the letter in his hands and then at the door in front of him, he doesn’t know why he came here, he doesn’t know her that well, but his mom likes her a lot, so does his dad, and to have made his Uncle Trey so happy there must be something special about her. he bites his lower lip and knocks on the door, a soft “Come in” is heard, “Hey.” Kendra says, a big smile forming on her lips, “Hey. If this is a bad time, I can come back.”

“Come on in.”

“Thanks.” Leo walks in and stands in front of her desk, “Take a seat” she tells him he chuckles nervously “Sorry, yeah.”

“What’s going on Leo?” she asks him, she can see that the young man is not sure where to start, “Problems?” she asks him.

“I was hoping for a little college advice.”

“Georgetown, my alma mater. Congratulations. I'm gonna have to give you the skinny on all the dorms.” She says smirking, Tom couldn’t keep his mouth shut about Leo getting into Georgetown and she has to admit the hyperactive and proud father was a nice change from the usually tired and exhausted man that made appearances these days in the halls of the west wing.

“Actually, it's about Yale.” He says, Kendra is puzzled, “I got in there, too.” Her eyes open wide in shock, she can only imagine the delight both parents are feeling having their kid get accepted to two of the best universities in the country.

“That's amazing.”

“Not really. My parents don’t know I applied.” He admits, “Oh,” Kendra sits back on her chair, she takes a bar of chocholate from one of her drawers and gives it to Leo, “So talk to them” she tells him smiling, Leo chuckles, “Sure. That's easy. "Hey, Dad, Mom, I know you have a few things on your plate, but I want to move 3,000 miles away and go to a college you don't even know I applied to."” Kendra smiles widely, “Ok maybe not just like that.” Leo smiles but it’s short lived, “He’s not gonna like it Kendra,” she finally gets what the source of the problem was, he wasn’t afraid of what his parents would say he was afraid of what his _father_ would say. “And what he’s not gonna like the most is that I didn’t tell him, Mom would be fine, she went to Yale herself she’d be exited by dad will feel betrayed I didn’t trusted him and we’re gonna get into this big argument and,” he pauses and takes a deep breath looking away for a moment “He has enough to worry about.”

“He doesn't worry about anything as much as he worries about you.” She reminds him, she can see how much Leo is like Trey in some aspects, both of them over thinking and worrying of things that haven’t happened yet, it makes her wonder is that a trait that the president has as well, or is it just something that Leo picked up from his uncle by association?

“I wouldn't even know where to begin.”

“Just... start with the unvarnished truth. That's usually what works best with him.” Leo smiles, his face starts calming down “You got this” Kendra reminds him reaching over her desk to take one of his hands in hers.

Leo smiles, he uses his free hand to cover hers “Thanks.”

* * *

 

_“Hundreds are dead, and hundreds more remain missing as the death toll continues to climb, hours after a devastating tsunami hit...”_

“I have the chief justice for you.”  Tom looks up Wyatt is standing there, his hands behind his back Tom is surprised by it, he doesn’t know why would Peter be calling him “I'll take it.”

“No, sir, he's here.”

“Send him in.” he stands up from his desk and walks to the door, “Peter, what a surprise. Good to see you.” He says shaking the older man’s hand, his face is hard, unreadable, it takes him by surprise “I'm afraid it's not a social call, Mr. President.” Tom is puzzled by what the other meant by that, “We missed you at Judge Putnam's memorial today.” Tom nods, “Unfortunately, there was too much work here to get away.”

“I'm glad Emily was able to make it in your stead and accompany your wife. I'm not glad she took the occasion to try to influence our calendar.” To say that Tom was shocked would be an understatement, Emily wasn’t supposed to be at work and now she accompanied Alex in the funeral? “Excuse me?”

“Your executive order, which has been enjoined by the lower courts. The White House wants us to hear the case.”

“That's correct.”

“And you think it's appropriate for your chief of staff to corner me about it?”

“Of course not.”

“Good, because I should hardly have to lecture the President about separation of powers.”

“She didn't do this at my request. “

“I find that hard to believe.”

“However, I accept full responsibility for her actions. Having said that, did she discuss substance?”

“No. But at the Supreme Court, procedure is substance. You influence the outcome of a case by merely getting it on the calendar. It was an ex parte communication, and you should fire her.”

Tom stands back looking at the Chief Justice walking away this day just took a turn for the worse in the most colossus way.

“Damn it.” He curses under his breath, he picks up the phone and calls Wyatt, “Get me Emily Rhodes now.”

* * *

 

“Mom, I need to talk to you, do you have time?” Alex looks up from her papers to see Leo poking his head in, “Sure honey, your dad called me Georgetown huh?” she tells him a large smile on her lips, as she walks around her desk to wrap him in a tight hug, “I told him to wait.” He murmurs, Alex chuckles and gently leads her son to the couch “Oh let him breathe, he’s happy about it.”

“There’s something I didn’t tell you, or dad.” His tone makes Alex worried, this wasn’t the voice of someone who just got into their first choice, “What is it?” she asks him.

“I also got in Yale.”

* * *

 

“Emily, how many times has the chief justice visited the White House?”

“Never, sir.”

“Right, for the same reasons that I don't visit his chambers, because of the appearance of impropriety.”

“I wasn't try to... I didn't... The walls are closing in on us, sir. Leadership is conspiring. People are dying. Seth is missing.” Tom takes Emily’s hands in his, she is losing her mind he can see that much, he doesn’t blame her he is too but she needs to get it together and fast. “Emily, I understand, but I'm facing a potential constitutional crisis because of these pending charges. I cannot afford another one because you want to influence the judiciary.”

“Yes, sir.” Kendra barges almost in the office, “The Supreme Court denied our petition. Our judicial option is gone.” She tells him, Tom breaths out he expected it to happen, after having Peter storm his office, “Well, I didn't expect them to wade into this political crisis.” He murmurs, “What other options do we have to get this aid to Taurasi?” he asks, Kendra bites her lip, “There's only one left...” she says, Emily winches, “A unilateral exercise of presidential authority. In defiance of Congress and the courts.”  

“You go that route, you don't have to worry about criminal charges. You'll have to worry about impeachment.”

* * *

 

Alex walks in the office, she finds Tom with his head on the desk, his hands covering his ears, as if he’s trying to shut off the rest of the world. She walks close and puts a hand on the back of his neck, he gets startled, looks up seeing Alex smiling back at him, “Hey.”

“Hey how is it going? He closes his eyes tightly “I’m going crazy, people are dying, American citizens in one of our territory and congress is dragging it’s feet refusing life saving help.” She goes to sit down on the desk next to him when his catches her hand and leads her to his lap, she smiles hiding her face on his neck, she kisses his neck and pulls back, her hands still wrapped around his shoulders, one holding the back of his head and the other on the base of his neck, “And I heard Emily cornered the chief justice; please tell me she’s not that stupid.” Alex heard of some rumors while she was leaving the funeral, but she didn’t stop to go back and verify it, the secret service had finished clearing the roads and she had to leave, looking at Tom’s face right now though it gave her all the answers she needed, “She did, didn’t she?”

“Yeah, the chief justice came to the White House and told me.” Alex groans, this was terrible, “Oh god” she hears him chuckle, his hand on her waist tightening his hold on her, “What options do you have left?” she asks.

Tom laughs, “One that will get me kicked out of office with all the glory of Andrew Jackson”

* * *

 

“I took the liberty of ordering us a bottle of wine. I assume you like Bordeaux.” Ethan is taken aback; he looks at the man serving them the wine, “When my billings are up, sure.”

“I'm a busy man these days, Mr. West. Let me get right to the point. I would like to hire you as a senior adviser.” Ethan sits back on his chair, he did expect something shady would happen when he accepted the invitation, but this is something he probably hadn’t thought, “For your presidential campaign?”

“Yes. You are an asset, and I need assets.”

“Why, that's very kind, sir, but I'm quite happy in private practice.”

“Oh, I have no doubt you are happy. But, one way or another, there is going to be a changing of the guard soon, which might affect your clientele.”

“Sir, what are we talking about here?”

“We're talking about establishing a mutually beneficial relationship. The A.G. appointed you to look into me, and instead, you found misconduct on the part of the President. Do you know what I call that?” every word from Moss’ lips is making him even sicker, this isn’t what he had thought, and he doesn’t feel comfortable at all.

“No.”

“Flexibility.”

“Sir, I wasn't trying to be flexible. I was trying to be a prosecutor. Following my mandate.”

“Yes. Good. You need justification for pursuing the President.”

“I had justification, sir. It's called facts and the law.” He hopes Moss will get the message, this whole meeting is making him uncomfortable, there's a thought that spins in his head, could it be that he was a tool for Moss and the Attorney General, could it be that with his actions he got himself involved in a larger scheme with only goal to take down the president?

“Indeed. I, uh, ordered us a couple of rib eyes.”

“Thank you.”

“Well, let's dig in. And then we'll talk about your future, huh?”

* * *

 

“It's a knock list... The names and addresses of every British agent posted at home and abroad.” Chuck tells her, Hannah bites her lip and looks outside the café’s big windows. Amy went to the bathroom and she thought it was the right time to call Chuck with the list.

“What was Damian doing with it?”

“My guess... what you think a Russian spy was doing.”

“And if Valeria gives it to Moscow...”

“Yeah, they would forgive her for moonlighting for Dax Minter.”

“Except Valeria has one big loose end. Amy. She's afraid the kid knows about the list, too.”  Hannah reminds him “If Amy talks to British intelligence... MI6 will scramble its assets, making the list worthless. If Valeria wants to save herself... She has to kill Amy.” Chuck doesn’t say anything for a while “Stay safe” he says before hanging up.

“We got to move now.” She tells Amy as soon as she comes out of the bathroom, “Why?” the girl asks, Hannah is holding her wrist tightly and almost drags her as she strides out of the café and into the busy road.

“Because there is a bigger price on your head than I thought.” She can see Amy’s eyes, the fear there, “Let's go.”

* * *

 

Lyor can feel his heart beating in his throat, “Excuse me. Have you seen this guy with the beard? No?” he tries again and again, showing people Seth’s image he gets the same response from everyone and he starts getting frustrated and slightly desperate “Uh, excuse me. Excuse me. Have you seen this man? Have you seen this guy?” he asks a man, the man shakes his head “No.” he says, “You're sure?” he asks, the desperation in his voice is something he hates, he wishes he could just suppress it , he wishes he could get his normal voice back, the tone that didn’t scream ‘Please help me find him’ the tone that didn’t mock him in his ear that he’s dying somewhere and he’s not there, he turns around and sees him, he’s right there, standing over some ruble, his lips break in a smile “Seth. Seth.” He grabs his shoulder wondering why the hell wasn’t he responding, but the man that turned around wasn’t Seth, his hand lets the man’s shoulder go, his hands shoot in the air, “Hey. I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else.” He says, the man doesn’t say anything else, he just nods, probably looking for someone himself. He lowers his head as he turns around, looking at the picture in his hands,

“Lyor!” he hears his name called and looks up, his head searching for the familiar voice. He sees him standing there, just a few feet away from him, “Seth. Seth. Hey!” he can feel the smile growing in his face as he runs to the man that until few minutes ago he thought would never see again

Seth sees the man running to him, his ribs and ankle are killing him but he ignores them, “Lyor!” he runs, he doesn’t know why but the first thing that came to his mind was to wrap the other man in his arms tightly. 

“Hey! No, no, don't do that.” Seth lets Lyor go from his arms, and smiles a bit, no matter what Lyor was never one for hugs.

“I'm so glad you're okay, man.” He says, the words came out with difficulty but he knew he had to say it. “Me?! I thought you were dead!”

“No, I-I lucked out. I was waiting in line for my cappuccino, and, uh, the guy in front of me got a phone call from his brother. He's a pilot. He warned us. I-I saw the tsunami hit from the roof.”

“You were on the roof?”

“Yeah, um, and then I-I met a cop who had a motorboat. He gave me a tour of the damage. We need to talk to the President.” Seth quickly leaves but Lyor can’t walk just yet, “He was on the roof.” He mutters to himself before chuckling and following Seth back to the hotel.

* * *

 

“I toured the southern part of the island. There's massive looting, rioting. I mean, it's a virtual war zone.” Tom was excited to see Seth’s face, he was terrified of the possibility he was lost, “Yes, we lack the police force to come to grips with this sort of chaos, which is why we're begging America for its help.” The governor’s voice shocks him out of that state of euphoria the reality of the case the realization of what happen hits him like a ton of bricks. “As soon as you sign the referendum.”

“Mr. President, I have no intention of signing that. Now more than ever, we need to be a U.S. protectorate.”

“Governor, Congress refuses to help. The courts have struck down my executive order. My hands are tied. And right now, you're the only one who can untie them.”

“I don't understand.”

“The key is what Seth said... War zone. Eight years ago, Congress passed a broad Authorization for the Use of Military Force... AUMF.”

‘So, if Taurasi's not a protectorate...”

“We can help you.” He says, the governor smirks understanding the plan they had came up with, “We need to create, at least on paper, a state of potential conflict.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you.” The governor leaves letting Seth and Lyor alone, it was almost as if they could ignore what was going on around them and pretend they were just sitting around the desk in the private office, “Seth, I can't even begin to tell you how relieved we are that you're okay. I can't imagine what you've been through.” He says, Seth smiles and looks down for a moment “Thank you, sir.”

“Godspeed.”

* * *

When Emily came in and told him that the minority and the majority leaders were in the west wing he got a small smirk on his lip he walked in the conference room with fighting with all he got to hide it, “Respectfully, sir, this is beneath you.” Feller says after reading the file.

“Excuse me, Senator? Protecting our nation from its sworn enemies is beneath me?” he says, Kendra looks at him, he's not good at being covert, he might not be smirking but there’s a glint on his eyes, “But, sir, that's not what you're doing. As the courts have affirmed, Congress has the power of the purse.” Crowell says “This isn't a budgetary issue. This is the proper exercise of the AUMF.” Tom says, he keeps eyes contact with both almost begging them to push him.

“$3 billion? And... And none of this is military. You're dispatching food, medicine, generators.” Feller says, Tom smirks “The express terms of the AUMF do not restrict the type of aid. The President can provide tanks, syringes, money, showgirls. And there's nothing unconstitutional about any of it.” Kendra tells them, she enjoys this a little too much, but she won’t lie about it.

“Being hailed as Taurasi's savior isn't going to stop the attorney general from bringing charges, sir.” Feller says, Tom shakes his head, “That's what you don't understand, Senator. I'm not doing this to be expedient. I'm doing this because it's the right thing.” He tells him, this man truly doesn’t understand it he thinks he’s still working within the realm of politics.

“And what you don't understand, sir, is that your definition of "right" often entails expedience. That's why you're in trouble.”

* * *

 

Alex takes a deep breath before walking in Tom’s office, “Hey” she says he looks up from a huge stack of papers, “Hey” he tells her, “Did he tell you?” he asks, Alex chuckles “Yeah, he wants to talk to both of us” Tom nods and stands up, his hands are stained with ink and she smiles “You always stain your hands, how do you do that?” she asks him taking his hands in hers, Tom looks down and chuckles “I don’t know.”

They walked to the residence in silence, before he walks in the living room Alex stops him “What?” he asks, "I heard about Taurasi, good job”

* * *

 

“Hey. Come on in. Sit down.” Leo sits down on the couch “First, I want to say congratulations Yale is fantastic.”

“It is.”

“Second thing... Why didn't you tell us?” Tom asks, Leo looks away biting his lip, “I'd already applied when Mom had the accident. I didn't know how to bring it up.” Tom looks at Alex who smirks, “Well, I wish you had. I've known for months.” Leo opens his mouth a smirk forms on his lips, “I keep forgetting you're pretty well-informed.”

“The President of Yale is on my Council of Economic Advisers. She called me to tell me how thrilled she was that you had applied.”

“Why didn't you say something?”

“'Cause I wanted it to come from you.”

“I'm sorry.”

“You've got a pretty big choice to make. What are you gonna do?” Alex asks him, Leo looks at her and then Tom “The decision's made. I can't leave you and dad alone.”

Alex chuckles and moves to the couch next to Leo, “We’re not honey” she tells him wrapping an arm around his shoulders, “Look... I want to be here with you and dad and Penny. Isn't that a good thing?” he says turning to Tom, “No.” he says.

“I don't understand.”

“You will when you have your own children. All you'll want for them is for their dreams to come true.” Tom leans forward and takes Leo’s hand in his “This is what I want. This is what we both want” Leo smiles and looks at his parents, Tom sits up, Leo following him just a few seconds later, “I'm really proud of you.” He says as he wraps his arms around his shoulders.

* * *

 

“What are you doing?” Amy asks when she sees Hannah turning on the lights and blasting music. “Telling the world you're home.”

“Why? If this woman's after me, we need to get out of here now.” Amy is frightened, she didn’t want to be here, she didn’t want to be so close to danger, she hates this “And then what? I know her. She won't stop until she finds you.”

“She killed my dad. Didn't she?”

“Yeah.” Hannah walks closer to Amy and takes her hand, “She's not hunting you anymore. We're hunting her. Stay away from the windows, lock the door, and do not answer it, no matter what.” She says giving her a tight squeeze and leaving the room.

* * *

 

Seth looks his face looking back to him in the mirror, he can see the pain in his eyes, slowly he raises his shirt, the bruise on his ribs seems even worse than before, he pokes around it with the tips of his fingers, a gasp leaves his lips, his breathing shortens, it hurt too much he lets his shirt fall and covers the bruised and swollen skin.

“Seth!” his head snaps when he hears Lyor’s voice from the other side of the door, “Coming!” he barely managed to hide the pain from his voice, “You ok?” Lyor asks. Seth smiles, tears silently running down his eyes as he tries to ignore the pain “I’m fine.”

* * *

 

“Mr. President. I just got word. Aid is being flown into the crisis zone as we speak. Good work, sir.” Emily tells him when she sees him walk in her office, Tom smiles “For all of us. I'm going to need to address the nation before these charges become public.”

“I anticipated that, and I spoke with the networks, blocked out time.”

“That's why you're such a great chief of staff.”

“I don't think I've been a great chief of staff, sir. I don't think I've even been a good one. My resignation.” Tom takes the folder from her hands and looks at her shocked, “Emily, these have been a very tough couple days.”

“It's not that.”

“Then talk to me, because I don't want to lose you.”

“All day, everyone has been telling me to go home, and I can't. I can't take a day off.”

“Because this is your home.” He says smiling “And I've lost my way.”

“No, you haven't.”

“I have.”

“Look, you're under a lot of stress. We'll lighten your workload.” Tom feels terrified he doesn’t like change, he hates it, “It's not the workload.” She simply says, “Then what is it?”

“I told Chuck Russink that he didn't need a warrant to get a reporter's phone records, and now I'm confronting a Supreme Court justice for a case...”

“Emily, this happens to all of us. You're holding on too tight.”

“I am. And that doesn't help you. It hurts you. If I don't walk away, I'm afraid I might do something that you can't take back.”

“Sir, I have Ethan West for you.” Tom is startled when he hears Wyatt’s voice behind him.

“Okay, thank you.” He looks at Emily, giving her the chance to change her mind but it doesn’t come, he realizes he has to face the next day without his trusted adviser by his side, “You will always have a seat next to me, Emily.”

* * *

 

“Mr. West, I don't have time for you right now.” He says walking in the oval, Ethan nods, “Mr. President, this will just take a moment. Uh... President Moss offered me a job today.”

“Good for you.”

“I'm not gonna take it. He thinks I'm somebody I'm not.”

“Well, I know exactly what you are.” Tom says bitterly, “A good lawyer who'll do anything to help his clients win?” Ethan says, Tom looks up from some papers on his desk, and looks at him puzzled, “If you're here to deliver some kind of mission statement, please...”

“No, more of a realization. See, Moss is working with Congress, who are working with your A.G. Everyone's working an angle.”

“And you're just realizing that now? How long have you been in Washington?”

“Long enough to recognize someone who's not working an angle. And that's you. You... You don't scheme. You serve.”

“Well, my days of service may be done soon.”

“That's 'cause you don't compromise. But there is some value in not compromising.” Ethan reaches inside his jacket and takes out a white folded paper, “What's this?”

“Something you gave to me, and I'm giving it back. Hope it helps.”

* * *

 

“Governor, I am privileged to finally tell you, relief is on its way.” Tom says, the governor smiles widely “Thank you, sir. We've also deployed 5,000 American troops to help you keep the peace. I am grateful, as I expect our people to be when they vote on a new referendum to restore our status as a protectorate, which I expect to pass overwhelmingly. Thank you, Mr. President. And you are our President.” He looks at the man on the screen, he can’t speak for a moment or two, usually he doesn’t get these declarations of support, he smiles “Thank you, Governor. Talk to you soon.”

“Great work, Aaron.” Tom says to Aaron, the young man smiles, “Mr. President.” Tom shakes his hand “Well done”

“Thank you, sir.”

* * *

 

“Our flight doesn't leave for a few hours. We're gonna have to watch the President's address here.” Lyor says, ever since Seth came out of the bathroom he’s been watching him like a hawk “What do you think he's gonna say?” he asks, Seth shrugs “I don't know. He's playing this one pretty close to the vest.” Seth pauses for a moment, he doesn’t know how exactly to tell him how worried he was, how frightened he was when he saw the damage the wave had done to concrete buildings around the island. “You know, um, when the tsunami hit, um... I was worried about you, man.”

“I was worried about you, too.” Lyor says, the words come out of his lips fast, something takes him aback, “And worried you weren't gonna find a biscotti for a cappuccino, that is. But you seem to have come through it all right... You know, near-death experience. Think of the stories you'll be able to tell your grandkids, you know, about your view from the roof.” He says, Seth’s expression turns from surprise to puzzlement, “I'll go check on our flight.” He says and turns around leaving Lyor standing behind, “What's that man's name?” Lyor turns and sees a woman in her sixties “Why?” Lyor asks, the woman looks at the door Seth disappeared “Because he saved my family, carried my grandchildren to the roof.”

“His name's Seth... and he's my friend.”

* * *

 

“Hey, taxi!” Hannah groans frustrated when she sees just another taxi drive by her, “That's not how you do it! It's actually against the law to yell "taxi" at a moving car. They won't stop. You just got to look for the light, and then stick your arm out.”

“What are you doing here?” Hannah asks puzzled when she sees Amy standing there, carrying a bag over her shoulders, “I knew what flight you were on because of your calendar.”

“Which is on my phone.”

“Which I hacked into when you were in the bathroom. You still haven't answered my question. My dad, he was the only family I had, my only relative.”

“Oh, no way.” Hannah doesn’t like how this goes, this is not what she signed up for. “There's nothing here for me, Hannah. Nobody will look out for me now. You looked out for me.”

“Oh, man. Look, I'm not your mother... and I'm not your big sister and I'm not your friend. Okay? You do what I say, when I say it, or I ship you back here in a crate.” Amy smirks and puts her hand out a taxi stops in front of them and the young girl got in, “This is a terrible idea.” Hannah murmurs to herself before she joined her inside.

* * *

 

_“I feel for Taurasi. But we have a constitution... checks and balances, separation of powers. Tom Kirkman has tried to end-run it all.”_

“Fuck Off!” Tom says to the TV, it’s almost weird how much he came to hate the man he once thought as his mentor.

“Five-minute warning, sir.” Tom looks at Mike who walked in with a smile.

_“That's not a President.”_

“Thank you, Mike.”

 _“That's an emperor_.” Tom groans and turns off the TV he looks at Mike with a smile, “You've had my back a lot over these last couple years.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You know, if this is the end of the road, Mike...”

“Then it's been an honor, sir.” Mike says cutting him off, “The honor is all mine. Let's do this.”

“All right.” Tom says to himself before walking in the room, it’s packed with senior aides, the two senators he hates the most standing in front

“Senators.”

“Mr. President.” He turns his head away from them as fast as he can; Alex is standing by the door, last person he’ll see before he faces the cameras. “Are you ready?” she asks, “No” Tom answers honestly, he wasn’t ready, this was probably the most consequential announcement in his presidency, “Well show time.” She tells him mindlessly fixing his tie, “Go get them, tiger.” Tom leans and kisses her cheek before walking out to the long corridor.

“Good evening, my fellow Americans. I am speaking to you tonight because this is a critical time in my administration... A time when I must address the future of my presidency.”

_“Open it.”_

_“It's blank.”_

_“That is correct. I have no terms. You see, if I can't convince the people that I've been working with that based on everything that I've done, I have earned the right to remain president, I don't want the job. I have no terms.”_

“I will continue to speak the truth, to work for all of you, without compromise, without fear, without terms, because that's what the American people deserve.”

 Seth looks at the screen shocked, he has a clue where this is going and he’s not sure he really likes it, “Oh, my God.” He mutters under his breath, “He can't do it now. We're not prepared.” Lyor says, his eyes open wide.

“Someone who puts them first, who won't quit until the job is finished, which is why I'm announcing my candidacy for re-election to the office of President as an independent... free from the constraints of party politics. Thank you for this time. God bless you. And God bless these United States of America.” Alex smiles she waits for the senators to storm out of the room before she walks by the door waiting for Tom to come through the door.

“What just happened?” Kendra asks, she looks at Aaron shocked her eyes open wide a small frozen smirk on her lips, “Well, it looks like our boy threw down the gauntlet.” He says a smirk growing in his lips as the two senators storm past him and Kendra, “And guess who picked it up?”

* * *

 

Alex is waiting him by the door, a big smile on her lips as she sees him “You did good.” She tells him kissing him, Tom pulls slightly back his hand on her waist, “Were the majority and minority leaders pissed?” he asks, “Oh you bet they were” she tells him smiling, “Good”

They walk to the oval in silence, Mike behind them is humming an unknown tune, Tom opens the door, his brother and Leo are sitting there, “Wow” Trey says, Tom rolls his eyes, “Oh stop it” he says under his breath, “Wow” Tom looks at Leo, “Not you too”

“It’s wow” Trey says a smirk on his lips “Can any of you two say any word that is not wow?” he asks, Trey looks at Leo who smirks widely, “Nope”

“I hate you both” Tom says, Leo and Trey burst out laughing, they were getting insufferable, “Trey, Leo I need some time with Alex.”

“We’ll be upstairs soon” Alex tells them, Trey wraps his arm around Leo’s shoulders and pulls him to the door, “Let’s go kiddo, you don’t wanna see this.”

“Ew uncle Trey, just ew”

“God I hate him some times” Tom says when the door is closed Alex laughs, “He’s your brother”

“I am not that annoying! Am I?” Alex looks at him with her hands on her waist, “Anyway I have an issue I want your opinion on” he tells her leading her to the couch, “What issue?” Alex asks.

“Of legal statue”

“You do have a lawyer.”

“I know but Kendra needs the night off.”

“Go ahead.”

* * *

 

Hannah takes another look at Amy’s sleeping face, Damian had made sure Amy’s ESTA was up to date, probably anticipating that Amy might need to travel to the US, Hannah makes a mental note to ask the first lady what she has to do to keep Amy in the US for longer than the three months the ESTA gives her since she’s much more familiar with those procedures. For now she turns to the laptop and plugs the flash drive in, there’s a video which gets her attention and she presses play.  

“Emily? What the hell?”

* * *

 

“Mr. President, I have the attorney general for you.”

“Thank you, Janet.” Tom waits until Janet closes the door to the oval, he picks up the phone, “Mr. Attorney General, this is the President.”


	4. Sweat, blood and tears

Alex was waiting for Tom in the private office; she didn’t have it in her to just walk upstairs and wait there. She paces up and down the room, counting her steps, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

“You still here?” she gets startled when she hears Tom’s voice from behind her “Couldn’t leave.” She says walking closer to him “What happened?” she asks, Tom smiles sadly “I fired him.” Alex nods.

“Okay” Alex says, she takes his hand in hers, holds it tightly “Okay”

“How do you feel?” she asks him, Tom bites his lip, he doesn’t know exactly what to say, “Weird.” He pauses, weird, such a small word doesn't give the full extent of his feeling “I don’t know, I never thought I would,” he stops and smiles, “You know.”

“Fire the attorney general?” Tom nods, “Yeah, you know congress will not confirm anyone.” although Alex smirks she feels terrible that he’s so insecure about himself, she starts running her hand up and down his back, “They’ll have to, your stock is up.” She tells him, the look on his face is almost like a child’s “Up enough?” he asks, Alex smiles widely, “More than.”

“Okay”

* * *

 

Seth and Lyor got in the car and were driven to the military base so far only military planes were taking off from the airport, commercial flights will start at some time next week according to most airlines. They were sitting in the empty terminal; Lyor pacing up and down the airport was filled with military personnel “Can you believe it, how could he do it?” he says, Seth was sitting back a small smile on his lips.

His ribs are on fire, taking deep breaths, he tries to focus on what Lyor was saying but the pain was almost unbearable, “I guess he does what he wants.” He says biting the inside of his cheek trying not to cry out, taking deep breaths he managed to get the sharp pain to subside, he blinks slowly  “There’s he does what he wants and then there’s this!” Lyor says almost screaming Seth shakes his head, “Lyor it’s fine, we’ll be back in D.C. and I’m sure Emily is already working with the communications department to whip up a strategy.” Lyor stops pacing, he looks at Seth, an unreadable expression on his “You never told me what happened to your head?” he asks, Lyor looks at him puzzled, “My head?”He asks, his hand rising to his forehead prodding around the bruise winching as his fingers push too hard. “Yeah you have a bruise there.”

“I knocked my head.” He says, almost dismissing the event as something that went on and shouldn’t be discussed, “Yeah I could imagine, are you ok did you get it checked?” he asks Lyor shakes his head again and turns around keep walking up and down, “It’s a bump, I’m fine!” Seth groans and stands up “You still need to get it checked!” he says following Lyor, “I’m fine!” Lyor says, he turns his hand hitting Seth’s side as the other man tries to move out of the way, Seth gasps, the pain is sharp and it makes him bend over.

“Seth!” Lyor feels his blood run cold as he sees Seth slowly going down, “Oh my god Seth!” he finds himself kneeling next to him his hand goes to his shoulder, he is surprised with himself usually he avoid any and all human contact but he finds himself unable to stay away.

“I’m fine,” Seth gasps, he takes a few deep breaths calming his heartbeat enough, his hand goes to his face wiping away some of the tears of pain that threatened to escape his eyes, “I’m fine” he repeats.

“You are so not fine, what happened?” Lyor tries not to panic he tries not to start screaming but he can’t. “Nothing,” although Seth’s voice is much calmer now Lyor notices how he’s still clutching his side, his eyes at moments closed tightly.

Lyor leans back and takes a good look at him, “Take your shirt off.” He says, his voice steady Seth looks at him, puzzled, confused, “What?”

“Take the shirt off!” Lyor says more forcefully this time; Seth is surprised not only by his request but also by his whole demeanor. He slowly starts raising his shirt, opening it but not really taking it off, still mindful of the fact that they are still in a semi public place.

Lyor opens his mouth when he comes face to face with the skin well hidden under Seth’s olive shirt. “What is this?” he asks his hands itching to touch the bruise, he bites his lip and stops himself, Seth shakes his head and lets his shirt fall, covering the bruises, “It’s nothing.” Seth says trying this time to move on.

“You’re all bruised,” Lyor says, Seth turns his head away and tries to get up, it takes him some time and effort but he manages to stand up and walk to the plastic chairs by the floor to ceiling windows. “Seth this is not nothing!” he says, he wants to stay his ground he wants to stand here and not walk closer but he doesn’t, something inside him stronger than what his brain wanted. He sits down next to Seth, his hands clutched on his lap. “What happened?” he asks, seeing Seth biting his lip.

“I,” Seth pauses and takes a deep breath, “I fell”

“When?”

“Going up to the roof, I,” Seth is startled when he feels Lyor’s hand on his shoulders; he would never thing that this man would ever initiate physical touch. “I tripped and fell” he turns and looks at the man sitting next to him, a smile on his lips, the pain still showing in his eyes, “Don’t worry it’s just a bruise I had it checked.”

Lyor nods, he doesn’t know what else to say, he just murmurs “Good.” The two of them remain silent, Lyor stands up fast, “I’m going to ask for some ice.”

“You need to get your head checked Lyor!” Seth says, Lyor at this point was already by the door, and he pauses, hand on the door, “I,” he stops doesn’t look back his eyes stuck on the door. “I am fine.”

“No you’re not.”

* * *

 

A million things run through Hannah’s mind as she and Amy went off the plane and she waited for Amy to go through customs, she couldn’t have been happier that it was so fast. They get in her car and drive to Hannah’s apartment, “Here’s where you live?” Amy asks taking her bag from the back seat, “Yeah, third floor.”

Hannah opens the door to her apartment, she doesn’t know why but she half expects Aaron to be there, just frantically looking around, as if she’s hidden under a table. She hides her disappointment and walks in letting Amy come in the apartment, “Cozy.” She says taking a look around, she smiles and it takes Hannah by surprise for a moment, her smile is just like Damian’s “I like it.” Hannah smiles and leads her to the other side of her bedroom, “Come on I’ll get you to the guest room.” she opens the door, the room is not painted the exposed brick on the wall matching the rest of the apartment, “It’s basic but I’m sure you’ll manage” Amy walks past her and sits down on the single bed by the single window of the room, she looks around a smirk slowly growing on her lips

“Just get me a bucket of paint.”

“Get comfortable.”

* * *

 

Seth manages to get Lyor to see one of the military doctors in the airport, he doesn’t know how exactly he does it but he won’t complain about it, “It seems to be a mild concussion, I’d suggest you have someone stay with you for 24 hours” the man says putting away his small flashlight, Lyor blinks a couple times, he has some black spots in his vision but he ignores it, “I will” Seth responds before Lyor has a chance to say anything.

“Good, don’t let him sleep for more than an hour, and if you can’t get him to wake up get Mr. Boone to a hospital immediately.”

* * *

 

Tom wakes up with a startle, he doesn’t know what is it but his breath is short and he’s sweating. Looking to his left Alex is still sleeping peacefully, he gets out of bed and into the bathroom as silently as he can, thankful all the way that he didn’t wake her up, she seems to be more tired these days. Walking in the bathroom he turns on the shower not loosing time before walking in. At first he didn’t hear the door opening, but when she opened the shower cabin door he smirks, he never managed to be too covert.

Alex wraps her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder, “Sorry I woke you up.” He says, his hands covering hers, “It’s ok, I wanted to tell you something anyway.” Tom turns around when he feels her smiling, his hands cradle her face, “What is it?” he notices her reaching on the shelf above their heads, smiling widely when her fingers find what she was looking for behind the row of shampoos and body washes.

Tom’s eyes follow the little plastic stick in her hands, he doesn’t dare to believe, what are the chances after all. She takes his hand in hers and gives it to him, she doesn’t say anything just takes a step back her hand falling from his waist, he misses the warmth there. Looking down he can see the little red plus, it bring tears in his eyes, he blinks, the plus stays there, “When,” he’s getting chocked up, “When did you find out?” he asks looking up, the smile on her face is one of the largest he had seen her give him since moving in the White House. “Yesterday. I’ve booked an appointment with my doctor for later just to make sure, you know.”

Tom doesn’t lose any time and wraps his arms tightly around her, the water hitting his back is getting colder but he doesn’t really care right now, he had two other people that are way more interesting.

* * *

 

He went to the office later than he wanted, the halls were still empty looking at his watch it was still 5am, Aaron was waiting for him in the oval, his suit, the same as yesterday, wrinkled a bit.  “Aaron, thank you for coming in so early.”

“No problem sir, is there anything I can help you with.” Tom nods and sits down behind his desk, Aaron follows him, sitting in one of the chairs next to the desk. “As you know Emily resigned last night.” He sees Aaron nod, “I want you to be my chief of staff.”

Aaron looks at the man a little shocked, it’s not that he didn’t want his old job back, because he did, he really did but he never thought he could get it back, after all when you leave a post in the White House you don’t get it back, hell you barely can get another post in the same White House at all. “Sir are you sure this is a good idea?” he asks, seeing the president lean back on his chair, a big warm smile on his face it makes Aaron guess what he’s about to say. “Of course, Aaron you’re good, you’re capable, I want you to take over.”

“It will be an honor sir.”

“Thank you”

Aaron bites his lip, “I’ll go get briefed on what’s going on today and I’ll be back for the 6 am meeting.” He says, Tom nods “Of course.”

* * *

 

Aaron walked back into his old office, looking around Emily hadn’t made that many changes he sits down at his chair and looks around, he turns on  the computer looking for the president’s schedule but he couldn’t find it, it’s puzzling at first but he ignores it looking at some of the files already printed waiting for Emily at the top of the desk, he sees one peeking out, the words _‘President’s schedule’_ written on the top corner in Emily’s elegant handwriting, he pulls it back and starts reading it, “What the hell?” he looks up at the date when he sees _‘Meeting with Speaker Hookstraten’_ in the 12am slot and to his horror he sees the date as being _‘February 20 th, 2016’_, he groans and throws the paper in the garbage. This was over a year old.

“Mandy!” the young woman walks in the office when she hears him call her name, “Mr. Shore.”

“I took over for Emily can you brief me what’s going on? What’s on the president’s schedule for today?” he asks her having given up trying to find the president’s schedule otherwise. The woman looks at him puzzled and slightly guilty. “I don’t know sir.”

“You are the senior assistant to the chief of staff.” He tells her puzzled, this was insane, how could she not know? “What was Emily’s schedule for today then?” he asks, his frustration clear in his voice.

“I’m sorry sir but I don’t know Ms. Rhodes kept a tight lip.”

“She didn’t give you her schedule?” he asks, this whole conversation must be in a dream, a nightmare, there wasn’t another explanation.

“Not earlier she would brief me the same morning.”

“Oh man.” He murmurs under his breath, “How can I find what’s going to happen today?”

“You should call Ms. Rhodes.”

Aaron nods and sits down at his chair again, “Thank you Mandy.” The woman turns around and walks out of the office, “Damn it!”

* * *

 

Seth was trying to keep up pace with Lyor who right after the plane landed got in Seth’s car, forcefully taking the key’s from the other man’s hands. He barely waited for him to get in before he speeded to the White House, “You shouldn’t be at work Lyor!” Seth says walking few steps behind him, he catches up to him, his hand gripping his arm, “You have a concussion!” he reminds him, his voice raising, “And you have five bruised ribs!” Lyor pushes back.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Aaron gets in between them, stopping the fight before erupting in the middle of the west wing. “What the hell?” he asks them both, noticing how Seth is still gripping Lyor’s arm.

“Please tell him he shouldn’t come to work with a concussion!” Seth tells him, never once taking his eyes off of Lyor almost as if he’s challenging him, “No you tell him he shouldn’t come to work with a twisted ankle and bruised ribs!”

“Both of you zip it!” Aaron says slapping Seth’s hand off Lyor’s arm “You both shouldn’t be at work but since you are here I’m gonna need you, Emily resigned and I have no idea what is even in the president’s schedule, he announced a freaking campaign and we have no strategy so both of you get to work, you have five minutes, get the rest of the senior staff and come to my office.” He says before storming towards the oval leaving them both stunned looking at his retrieving back.

* * *

 

Aaron smiles at Wyatt when the young man gives him the president’s schedule, a sympathetic smile on his lips, “Thank you” he says, looking at his watch he barely can make it to the briefing on time, he takes a quick look at it, it seems tight but he doesn’t have much time to change things on the spot, he’ll probably have to change them as it goes with the president present. “Good morning sir, there’s a small issue with your schedule, I just got it from Wyatt.” He says, he doesn’t know why he mentions the issue at all, it doesn’t really sound like a big deal but he also feels the need to warn him that this meeting is going to be different than the ones he used to conduct on his first time around.

“What issue.”

“Emily hadn’t filed with her assistant and it took me a while to get to it. Don’t worry I am up to date right now so we can get going.” He says smiling, Tom notices how tight his smile looks, “Aaron wait a second, what do you mean she hadn’t filed it?” he asks puzzled, he always thought that things were running smoothly with Emily, but apparently that might not have been the case, “She probably forgot to do it sir, but the chief of staff is expected to just file the president’s schedule and their own to their assistant for safe keeping, it’s something that chiefs of staff in the White House have done for years, she probably forgot.” Aaron tells him, Tom nods, “Oh ok. You probably had to call her to get to it.” He says smiling, almost feeling bad with himself for thinking so low of Emily, he doesn’t notice how Aaron’s smile fell a little when he said that, or even how the other man didn’t respond at all, not even with a nod. “So what’s in the calendar?”

“At 7 am you are about to receive the Presidential Daily briefing in the oval office, at 7.30 am you have your national security briefing, my deputy will conduct that, small warning there’s some unrest in Qatar,” he says, Tom takes notes on what he has to do, he looks up “How bad?” he asks,  “We’re monitoring it.” He nods and turns back to his notes, “8am you have a meeting with Joint Chiefs of Staff, 9 am you have to interview few potential Secretaries of State, then we made a change you have an hour free,” he says scribbling off his 10 am meeting with the economic council especially given that he will probably not be brief yet and he will end up spending two hours listening to the same things.

“An hour?” he asks, Tom feels like a kid on Christmas morning right now, he doesn’t really remember when was the last time he had an hour off in the morning to be honest.

“Yes sir, and I am going to make even more changes to your schedule in the following days.11am you’ll receive the Economic Daily Briefing, at 12 pm you have a cabinet meeting, 12.30 pm you have a lunch break,” Tom looks up, he doesn’t say anything, but he is surprised, usually he gets lunch around meetings not having half an hour appointed just for that, “1pm you’re scheduled to attend a naturalization ceremony for active duty service members, with Homeland Security Secretary Pierson, 4pm you have a meeting with your senior advisors, and then 4.30pm you have another meeting with some potential replacements for the Attorney General.” He says closing the binder, Tom is surprised, “That’s all?” he asks, if his math is correct it means he’d be home by 6pm and he honestly can’t remember the last time he’d been home before 10pm.

“Yes sir, you’ll be done by 6.30 pm assuming there’s no emergency.”

“6.30, wow, I don’t remember the last time I went home at 6.30”

“Well sir, you’ll be happy to know that tomorrow your day will start at 8.30.” Aaron says standing up, Tom is surprised, “Why?” he asks, it’s not that he’s ungrateful because he wasn’t it was just extremely out of place, “Because I don’t know how you’ve managed not to collapse from exhaustion sir, you have a campaign and potentially eight more years in this office, it will kill you.” Tom nods, “Thank you Aaron.”

“Thank you sir.”

* * *

 

Aaron walks to his office, he sees Kendra, Seth and Lyor standing there, “Where are the rest?” he asks, he knows these three are the _closest_ to the president but they couldn’t be the only senior staffers!

“What rest?” Seth asks, “The other members of the staff!” he says, Seth looks around puzzled, “We’re all.” He says, Aaron blinks a couple times, “Seth, we’re four people, this isn’t a senior staff this is a joke!” no one responds, he just sits down on his chair and looks at the three people in front of him, “Who’s the communications director.”

“Was Jordan he resigned I think a couple months ago.” Seth tells him, “Jordan?” he says trying to keep his voice down, last thing he needs is the press to get a whiff of it, he sees Seth winching, “The junior assistant to the deputy communications director? Are you shitting me?”

“No.” Seth says with an apologetic look on his face.

“Oh god. We need to hire more people.” Aaron murmurs, he doesn’t know how the White House even functioned, but then on the other hand he understands exactly why they would face one catastrophe after another.  “Ok first things first, Lyor you just got a promotion you are the deputy White House chief of staff, your job for today is to fill the White House, find out what we’re missing and hire them, you have a week, and that is your only job.” He says to the man, Lyor pushes back his glasses and nods, he won’t admit it probably never and to anyone, but he likes Aaron, he already was doing all the work the deputy White House chief of staff normally does, just without the office and paycheck, “Seth work with whatever we have left in communications and set up a strategy, I wanted the president to have a press conference tomorrow but that’s not gonna happen, just focus on the campaign.” Seth nods and takes out his phone already calling a meeting with communications as soon as possible.

“Kendra I want you to vet these for attorney general they are people the president would like to be considered just in case the names I gave him won’t work.” Kendra takes the folder from his hands taking a quick looks on the names there Ethan West’s name on the very top takes her by surprise but she doesn’t let it show, “Sure.”

 “Let’s get to work, this is going to be the most difficult week of our lives since the capitol went up in flames.”

* * *

 

Tom finishes with his last meeting with Senator Fuller, as soon as possible and runs to the garage, Alex was just getting in the car when he called her name, she looks up “Tom?” she is surprised to see him there, although the smile on her lips tells him how little bothered she is by it. “What are you doing here?” she asks him as he takes her hand in his “I’m coming with you to the doctor.”


	5. Shocked

Tom took Alex’s hand in his, looking straight ahead, they were alone in the office, waiting for the doctor to come back with the results, he was fidgety, almost scared, “Whatever Addie tells us we’re gonna be fine.” Alex tells him, he doesn’t know why but he hates the sound of that, it’s almost if she’s sure that something will go wrong, “Nothing will be wrong, right?”

Alex smiles, “Tom I’m 45, something might be wrong.”

* * *

 

“Hey Aaron.” Her voice on the other side of the line makes him stop breathing, he didn’t expect to hear from her “Hannah”

“Thanks for the food you left on the fridge.” She tells him, he smiles, “You’re back home?”

“Yeah” she says after a long pause, “There are some things I’d like to talk to you about, when can you come over?”

“I’ll be there tonight around 7pm.”

“Great I’ll be waiting.”

* * *

 

Addison walks in the office, her long red hair tucked in a careful bun at the base of her neck, “Well?” Alex asks,

“I have good news, you are indeed pregnant. Congratulations both.” Tom grips Alex’s hand tighter, it’s like a weight lifted off of his shoulders, “But, I don’t think you need me to remind you that a pregnancy at 45 is something you should be very careful with.”

Alex’s smile drops, she knew that there would be dangers, hearing it just makes it more real. “I know, what should I be aware of?”

“You need to take things easy listen to your body, I want you to rest more, expect to start showing before the end of the first trimester. Let’s get you ready for the ultrasound and then I can explain more.”

* * *

 

Aaron walks in Lyor’s new office, he took less than an hour to move his things from his old smaller office to the new one, the box of personal belongings left forgotten on the floor next to the heavy desk, as he’s up to his neck with file after file, Aaron clears his throat Lyor looks up but doesn’t say anything, almost as if he’s ignoring his appearance in the room. Aaron rolls his eyes and walks to the desk leaning forward. “So what do we need?” he asks.

Lyor closes the folder in front of him and gets a sheet of paper, his messy handwriting making it illegible to Aaron, “Cabinet, we need a Secretary of State and an Attorney General,” he reads drawing small ticks next to the first two, “Then for the west wind, we need 3 more Deputy Chiefs of staff, one for operations, one for policy and one for communications, especially if you and I are going to be involved in the campaign, we need at least two counselors to the president, which can be our spokespeople as well because we have none right now, we also need some senior advisors, Communications director and a couple deputies, two more deputies for Seth, another two for Kendra, I already talked to her about it and she’ll come up with the names soon, we need a special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and another for the middle east, we need a chair for the FDIC, a director of Legislative Affairs and a staff, since legislative affairs is almost empty, a director of scheduling and advance, we need a chief strategist, we need a director of social media, a director of speechwriting, we also need to staff the offices of public liaison, of the staff secretary, of trade and manufacturing policy, of oval office operations, of White House fellows, and the military office.” Aaron nearly trips, these were a lot of positions that remained empty for over a year with many of them being essential to the smooth operation of any administration. “Is that all?” he asks almost dreading what he was going to hear next.

“No, because then we need campaign staff, media strategist, campaign manager, communications chief, deputy campaign manager, chief pollster, chief operating officer, national finance director, we need pollsters, a national press secretary, we can’t have Seth go out and give campaign speeches, a research director, media consultants, policy advisors, a political director, a national field director,”

“I know we need a full campaign staff.” He says cutting Lyor off, his head starts spinning; he doesn’t really know how the hell is he going to figure this mess out. “Is there anything in this west wing that works well?”

“The coffee maker works just fine.”

* * *

 

“You seem to be about two months far.” Addison says smiling, Alex turns to Tom he seems hard at thought for a moment, “Camp David.” He says.

“I know.”

“The summit.”

“I know Tom.”

“I’m just saying this baby was conceived in Camp David.” She turns to see him smirking, she rolls her eyes turning her eyes back to the monitor.

“Everything seems to be healthy, which is good. I think you’ll start showing petty soon, which might be tough with the media.” Alex groans at the thought, she isn’t ready to have the world going crazy over the first bump, the thought alone makes her cringe but she knows it will happen, E! will probably hire a national correspondent just for that.

“Oh trust me they’d have a feast.” Alex says.

“I’m sure, we need to conduct some other tests in a couple weeks to check for potential genetic issues with the baby. So far everything seems to be normal, so get dressed and we can talk about some of the risks. I assume you both would like pictures right?” neither was able to speak, Tom shook his head vigorously, Addison smiled, she has seen many fathers in his shoes just no one as powerful as him, she presses a couple buttons sending the pictures to be printed and walks out the room.

Alex turns to Tom as soon as the door is closed; he looks lost, looking at the black screen of the monitor. “Tom?” she says, her hand reaching for his arm.

“I’m scared,” he admits, “It wasn’t real” he looks at her, finally managing to tear his eyes away from the screen, “Until now it wasn’t real.”

“I know,”

“The risk is real too Alex.” He bites the inside of his cheek, he doesn’t want to completely break down right now, but his hand reaches for hers almost on an instinct, he knows he mentioned trying for a child but then it was a distant thought, a hope of something neither thought would happen, now though, an actual life is growing inside his wife, nothing more than a cluster of cells right now could endanger her life and the thought of living in a world without her was petrifying him. “I don’t wanna lose you.”

“We’ve been through this, we’ll get through it again.”

“Still doesn’t calm me down.” He says an hollow smile on his lips, “I know, but I can’t promise you everything will go fine.” She tells him. Alex hates seeing him like that, she understands his fear, she's terrified of the same things as well, but she knows him as well as she knows herself, better than anyone in the world right now, and long enough to know that he wants this, he wants it as much as she does. “Whatever happens, we’ll get through it together right?” she asks him, her hand clutching his tightly.

“Right.”

“Need any help?” he asks her after a few minutes of silence, Alex laughs, “Getting dressed Tom? No I’m fine.”

“I’ll wait outside.”

Alex takes her time getting ready, Addison’s words that everything seemed normal were ringing in her ears, she couldn’t have been more thankful, at least that ectopic pregnancy was ruled out, in her worry and anxiety she made the mistake of looking on line for some of the complications and the horror stories she heard of women dying because their ectopic pregnancies weren’t diagnosed or cared for properly and early on nearly made her run for the hills.

Addison smiles and waits till she’s seating before she starts telling them of the possible complications and difficulties in general, Alex smiles as Tom’s hand instantly finds hers, “So, good news first, this seems to be a normal pregnancy, which is good, and also the baby seems to be the right size, now over 40 the risks of complications are greater, you’re in risk of having high blood pressure, of placental previa, inefficient uterine contractions which can lead to needing a cesearean delivery, high risks of miscarriage, not to mention that it’s going to be much harder on your body to go back to where you are now or where you were a month or two ago, but what I’m most worried is preeclampsia, which thankfully you didn’t have before, but we still have to be careful.”

“I had issues with high blood pressure with our first child.” She says, the pregnancy with Leo was a horrible one, she was in bed rest throughout the whole last trimester because of her high blood pressure, it wasn’t something she was looking forward repeating any time soon.

“Then you need to be extra careful this time around, you need to exercise regularly, maintain a healthy weight throughout, and also maintain a healthy and well balanced diet, 100% abstain from alcohol and smoking even other people smoking.”

“That I can do, don’t ask me to abstain from sex though.” Alex says with a smirk, she can see Tom blushing a bit but she turns her attention back to the doctor, “I’m afraid till you hit the twenty weeks spot you’ll have to.” Tom chuckles, “Come on, twelve more weeks right doctor?”

“Ten actually, you’re 10 weeks along” Tom’s smile drops a bit, he turns to Alex his blue eyes open wide, “Is everything alright?” Addison asks, “I stand corrected, it was air force one.” Tom says, it makes Addison roll her eyes, “Our tax dollars in action.” She murmurs.

Alex sees Tom smirking, ready to answer but she puts her hand on his mouth, “Don’t say it Tom.”

* * *

 

Trey knocks on Kendra’s door, he was expecting a phone call yesterday, he doesn’t blame her not calling, he knows that the whole White House is running twice the speed limit after his brother’s bombshell, but his lizard brain was worried, he couldn’t stop the annoying voice in his head telling him she hates him and wants nothing to do with him, so he just walked to her office, “Come in” she says, Trey opens the door and walks in, she looks up from some files in front of her and smiles, “Hey, I’m sorry I didn’t call, but,”

“My brother is a pain.” He cuts her off, she laughs, biting her lower lip trying not to, but some chuckles escape her, he looks at her almost mesmerized, he wonders how the hell he got her to give him a second look, “I wouldn’t say that.” Trey chuckles and walks to her desk he pulls back one of the chairs across from her and sits down, “He is, don’t worry, we tell him so often.”  

Kendra chuckles, she is sure Trey makes sure to tell his brother when he’s being a pain, Alex told her as much anyway. “Is our date this weekend still on?”He asks, he notices the look on his face and it breaks her heart that she can’t tell him for sure, “Um, I… I don’t know.” His smile falls and a look of sadness just fills his eyes, she feels like screaming right now, of course she was going to fuck it up, she just hoped it wouldn’t be that early on, “It’s not that I don’t want to,” she says almost too fast.

Trey looks up and smiles, “But with my brother announcing he’s running for president.” She nods, “Yeah and a new Chief of Staff, and the firing of the attorney general.”

“It’s a lot.”

“Yeah.” Trey bites his lip, he knows their date is all but forgotten but he doesn’t want to wait until things calm down before seeing her again. “How about dinner here? Whenever you’re done, Saturday.”

Kendra smirks, she’s taken aback by his proposal, but she likes the idea, she was scared they were going to have to postpone their date until it was too late. “I might be done very late.”

“And I live here.”

“Ok.”

* * *

 

“Ten weeks.” Alex murmurs when they get in the car. Tom smirks and takes her hand, “I know”

“TEN WEEKS TOM!”

“I know.” He says calmly, Alex turns and looks at him, he has to admit her look, under other circumstances, might have scared him but this time it was amusing. “How can you even be so calm?” Alex tells him slapping his arm, Tom starts laughing, “Because she said no to penetrative sex, not sex in general.”

“Oh.” Alex looks at Tom, his smirk was annoying her to no end, “Stop smirking!”

Tom bites his lip to stop the laughter, “Do you find me irresistible? Is that it?”

“I find you insufferable right now.” She tells him, Tom starts laughing again, “Oh shut up.” Tom leans closer and kisses her cheek, Alex leans on his shoulder, a smile formed on her lips as his arm wrapped around her waist, it was uncomfortable, her life belt was bothering her and she sit up again, “How come and you even could come over?” she asks him, he reaches for her hand, “Aaron managed to get me an hour free.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and at 12.30 we’re getting lunch.”

“I really like Aaron right now.” He smirks and leans closer, “More than me?”he asks, Alex leans closer, “Jury’s still out.” She says and lean for a kiss, “What’s on your schedule next?”

“Economic briefing.”

“Sounds fun.”

“Hmm.”

* * *

 

Alex opens the door to her office, she was looking at some papers Jamie, her chief of staff, gave her, “Hey sis, where were you?” Alex gasps “Trey!” he sits up from her chair and smirks “Sweet baby Jesus you scared me.” She murmurs, “Don’t ever do that again!”

“Sorry, where were you?” he asks, Alex walks to her desk and sits down, “To the doctor.” She says putting her bag down and letting the folder on the desk, Trey walks closer and sits on the desk “You ok?” he asks worried, he reaches for her hand “Alex are you sick?”

Alex breaths out and looks around, she doesn’t know why she does that, she knows that the room is secure and no one is listening, but years in private practice where nothing stays private in the office, are hard to shake off. “I’ll tell you something and you better not blabber it to anyone Trey.”

“You have my word.” He says, his face is still showing the overwhelming worry, “I’m pregnant, ten weeks.” His eyes open widely, “Oh my god! I’m gonna have another niece or nephew?” he asks with a large smile on his face, he sits up and wraps Alex in a tight hug. “Why didn’t you tell me I could have come with you!”

Alex pulls back “Tom came.” She tells him sitting back down, her feet started hurting so she kicks her shoes off, raising her feet on the desk Trey leans back on the desk, “Really?” he asks surprised, “Yeah, he managed to get an hour free.”

“This is amazing!” he smiles and reaches for Alex’s hand, “I swear I’m never scaring you again, at least till that baby is out.” Alex laughs, “Congratulations.” Trey says, “Thank you Trey.” She lowers her feet and turns back to the folder she let on the desk earlier, “By the way what did you want?”

“I asked Kendra out, you know, but my dumb brother run to a wall with a bucket on his head so we might not make it out, could we use the sun room?” Alex chuckles “Sure, go talk with the chef to have something special done.”

“Ok good, um, if you and Tom could not come on the third floor would be good as well.” He says, Alex notices how he rubs his hands together trying to calm himself down, “Don’t worry Trey, I’ll see if I may get Tom out of the White House all together.”

“Thank you.” He gets up and starts walking to the exit, he is worried he’s going to screw up “Any advice?”

“Well Kendra doesn’t eat meat, so keep that in mind.”

“Thanks.”

* * *

 

Alex spend the next half an hour wondering whether or not she should tell her staff about the pregnancy, she knew they were bound to notice it, she started feeling some traces of morning sickness already, it was only going to get worse, she knew from experience. In the end she didn’t, thinking she has at least a couple weeks until they would start noticing, at least she hopes.

Walking to the west wing she could see clearly how this campaign season had changed the pace of the place, the usually empty and quiet halls are buzzing with people walking around, mindlessly looking at their phones and navigating around other people walking past them.

She gets to the oval, Wyatt tells her that Tom is alone in the office and walks in, “Hey,” she tells him, he looks up from a thick binder she assumes it’s the economic briefing and smiles.

“Hey, I just finished the economic briefing, do you mind if we eat next door?” he asks, Alex smiles and walks to him wrapping her arm around his waist, “No.” Tom smiles and walks with her to the private study next door.

Opening the door his eyes fall on the round table, plates of food were already there, he looks to Alex who was biting her lip, “Wait, what?”

“I called the kitchen and they already brought the food.” She tells him pulling out a chair and sitting down, Tom shakes his head, “I don’t know why I’m even surprised about that.” He murmurs under his breath.

The two eat in silence for a while before Alex left her fork down, “Did you tell your staff?” she asks him, “No, you?”

“Not yet.”

“You think we should?” Tom asks, he doesn’t really want to let the world know of their secret yet, he doesn’t even know why but he feels like this is one of the last things they had just to themselves.

“I think it’s advised.” She says, she sees the look on his face and reaches for his hand, he doesn’t want to tell anyone yet and truth be told neither does she. It was something only they knew it was something intimate, private, something for just the two of them in a world where everything in their lives is not. “Tom, we both might need to miss work on a moment’s notice. Today was a lucky call and you had an hour off, but what about the next appointment or the one after that?”

“You’re right.” He says, he realizes that keeping a secret isn’t worth missing on the next appointment, it’s not worth him missing out on hearing the baby’s heartbeat, or seeing them try and bite their leg as Leo tent to do. “4pm I have a meeting with Aaron, Kendra, Lyor and Seth, I’ll let them know.”

“Good. I’ll let know Jamie when I’m back as well.” Tom chuckles, Alex’s chief of staff was tough as nails, she was notorious in the west wing for some of the fights she picked up with Lyor. “She’s butting heads with Lyor all the time.”

“Good, he needs someone to keep him on his toes.”

“You enjoy that don’t you?”

“Only a lot.”

* * *

 

Tom comes back from the naturalization ceremony a little earlier than planned, he walks straight to the office thinking of how he’s going to break the news to his staff. He trusts them a lot but he still doesn’t know how to say it. Looking at his watch he realizes that he has barely three minutes before they walk in, he bites his lip and walks to the oval and case in point Aaron walks in first, Kendra follows him closely behind Lyor is telling her something but she seems to be ignoring him, Seth walks in last, he has a slightly limp which is prominent as he turns around, from closing the door, and walks to the rest.

“Before you guys say anything I have to say something which needs to stay within these walls. It can’t be leaked, not yet.” He tells them.

Kendra looks at him worryingly, the tone of his voice is making her think of the worse, “Sir, are you sick?” she asks him, a bright smile forms on his lips. “No Kendra I’m healthy, I’m great actually.” He tells her, turning to the rest he could no longer hide his smile, “It’s just that,” Tom pauses for a moment, biting his lip, “Alex and I are expecting a baby. She’s ten weeks so we’re still not in the clear,” a chorus of congratulations is heard with Kendra going as far as giving him a small one arm hug, he pulls back, Aaron shakes his hand smiling widely, Seth quickly follows. He looks at Lyor, the man is looking at them stunned, a spark in his eyes is frightening Tom who just leans a little closer, “Lyor are you alright?” he asks.

“More than alright sir, we might just win this election!” he says with a glee in his voice matching the craziness in his eyes.

“Lyor I’m not using my child for an election win!” he says, Lyor walks fast to him, he pokes his chest with his index finger, “No, no, no, you don’t get it sir, you won’t have to use it, but the image of you and the first lady, pregnant while campaigning it will soften your profile, will make you more liked to female suburban voters, small simple things you already do for the first lady, like holding a door open, or holding her hand while walking, turning around to check if she’s coming, all those will, will, will” Seth looks at Lyor walking up and down the room, a fast pace, his hands on his waist, muttering the word will again and again, “Boost his profile?” he offers, Lyor stops pacing and turns to Seth, “Yes! Thank you Seth!”

Lyor pauses for a moment, it wasn’t the first time Seth had finished his sentence when his mind’s dictionary wasn’t cooperating with him but something made him freze for a moment before turning his back to the man and facing the other three people in the room looking slightly puzzled, “It will it will make you approachable, and lovable and the husband they wished they have.”

Kendra looks at Lyor, a wide all teeth smile on his face, a spark in his eyes make him look more or less insane, “Alright.” She mutters turning to the president, he looks back at her stunned, “No, no that wasn’t weird.” He says under his breath.

* * *

 

The day passed without much fuzz for Aaron, the president walked past his office it was 6.30 pm he tapped on his watch before telling him good night. He smiles and starts gathering his things, he wasn’t done for the day, not by a long shot, but tomorrow was going to be as exhausting as it goes, and he doesn’t want to call Hannah to postpone their meeting, he wants to see her, make sure she was alright given that she disappeared off of the face of the earth for days.

He gets to her apartment building and sees the lights on, he smiles and walks to the third floor as fast as his feet can carry him, he fixes the collar of his shirt, standing in front of the door with a stupid smile on his lips. Aaron takes a deep breath and collects himself before ringing the bell. “Aaron thanks for coming.” She tells him opening the door, she is wearing her normal black yoga pants and a purple top he has seen her wear once when visiting John Forstell in the hospital. “No problem, where were you?” he asks, she moves to the side and let’s him in, “I had to go to London, I want you to meet Amy, she’s Damian’s daughter.”  She says showing the young woman sitting on the couch, her feet were crossed underneath her, she was also wearing a purple shirt with sweatpants, “She’ll stay with me.” Hannah says closing the door behind him, he notices the tone in her voice and smiles, “Oh.”

Amy jumps up from the couch and walks to him, “Nice to meet you, you cook very well.” She says as she shakes his hand, Aaron is a little amused by this action, “Thank you, nice meeting you too.” He says, Amy raises her eyebrow and walks back to the couch first, sitting down at the corner she had claimed before. Aaron follows Hannah she sits down at the armchair closest to where he is sitting, “So you adopted her?” he asks, Amy chuckles turning off the TV, “I’m 16 a British citizen and resident I’m an adult.”

Hannah rolls her eyes “I’m more of a guardian type.” She says, “And that’s issue; she’s here on a ESTA, which only gives her three months.”

Aaron nods, ESTAs give British citizens the ability to travel to the US instantly and it’s valid for two years but it only can give them up to three months in the country, if Hannah doesn’t find a more permanent solution Amy will have to go back to England by the end of those three months. “You should talk to the first lady; she’ll know what to do better than me, not to mention she probably won’t charge you thousands of dollars.”

“The first lady knows about immigration law?” Amy asks, Hannah groans “Did you live under a rock? She was an immigration attorney.” She says, Aaron was about to scold her for the way she was talking to the child but Amy beat him to it, “I didn’t care about the details of your political landscape as it was completely mind boggling and not at all my style.” Hannah narrows her eyes to her.

“Pot meet kettle” Aaron mutters under his breath, “Oh shut up.” Hannah tells him, “I rest my case.”

* * *

 

Tom walks upstairs delighted, he honestly doesn’t remember the last time he went home before 10pm, Alex is sitting in the living room, her feet up the table, a small pillow underneath.

Alex opens her eyes and looks at the door when she hears noise, “Tom?” she asks surprised, sure he had told her that he was going to come home early today but she didn’t believe him, every day leaving for work he would say that he’s going to try and get home early, he’ll try and get home before 6pm or before 7pm or just before 10pm but he never in his year as president he succeeded. “Is the world gonna end?” she asks, Tom rolls his eyes letting his briefcase on the armchair and sits down next to her, “What Tom? You’re back home before 10p.m. when was the last time this happened?” she asks him, he smirks and wraps his arm around her shoulders pulling her towards his side, “I know, and tomorrow I won’t have to go in until 8.30 am” he tells her, Alex smiles and rests her head on his shoulder, he can feel her smirking against his skin, “Who are you and what have you done to my husband?”

* * *

 

“Is she asleep?” Aaron asks Hannah as soon as she closes the door to the guest bedroom, she went to help Amy with sheets and pillows, barely having time to get those when they came home from the airport.

“Yeah” she says, she walks back to the living area and sits down next to him, he’s surprised but hides it well, he has become the master on this anyway, “She’s nothing and exactly like Damian.”  He says, Hannah smirks and nods, he’s not exactly wrong, but he isn’t right either, he didn’t know Damian as well as she did, in fact Amy was quite a lot like Damian, just not on surface. “Why take her in?”

“I don’t know Aaron, I really don’t.” she says, Aaron smiles, he is feeling bold and reaches for her hand, “I think I do.” He says, “She reminds you of yourself.”

“Shut up” she tells him, she doesn’t know why but doesn’t pull her hand away, she wishes he was wrong but she has to admit that he wasn’t, again he wasn’t exactly right either but he wasn’t wrong. She sees parts of herself in Amy, small bits that make her remember how she was when 16. “I’m right.” He says smiling, she was about to push him back when she sees him smiling, it stops her. She rolls her eyes “Is there anything else you wanted to tell me?” he asks.

“One more thing” she gets up, his hand falls from hers, for a moment she misses the warmth but she pulls herself together instantly. She gets her laptop from its bag still left on her bed with her duffel bag. He turns on the computer and plugs the flash drive in.

She finds the clip and presses play, turning her eyes to Aaron, she has seen the clip more than a few times already, she doesn’t need to see it again.

Aaron stares at the screen, for a moment he’s stunned, he sees the face of a woman he thought he loved and leans forward, “Is that?” he asks Hannah.

“Yeah, Emily Rhodes one on one with Valeria.”


End file.
